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AN    ANALYSIS 


OF  THE 


LIFE-FORM    IN   ART. 


The  Comedian.     Museo  Borbonico,  xiii,  tab.  21. 

BY    HARRISON^    ALLEIN^,   M.  D., 

Professor  of  Comparative  Anatomy  in  the   University  of  Pennsylvania,  Member  of  the  Philosophical 

Society^  etc. 


"  I  attribute  the  now  backward  state  of  the  science  of  culture  to  the  non-adoption  of  the  systematic  methods  of 
classification  familiar  to  the  naturalist." — Edioard  B.  Tylor  in  Report  of  the  British  Association  for  1868. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
McCalla  &  Stately,  Printers,  Nos.  237-9  Dock  Street. 

1875. 


/|6 


1/ 


rr 


^ 


OOlsTTZBHSTTS. 


PART  I. 
General  Considerations. 

PAGE. 

Section  I.     The  Imitative 1 

"      II,    The  Inventive 2 

"    III.     The  Ethnic  Value  of  Design 4 

"    IV.     The  Realistic 6 

"      V.     The  Conventional T 

(a)  General  Remarks ;  (6.)  Conditions  favoring  the  Conventional;  (r.)  The  "Fantas- 
tic;" (d.)  Ethnic  value  of  the  Conventional ;  (e.)  "  The  Grotesque  ;"    (/.)  The 
tendencies  of  the   Conventional;  (r/.)    The  Symbol;    (A.)   The  Zoo-Myth;  (^■.) 
Errors  of  Naturalists  in  depicting  Animals. 
"     VI.     The  Dragon 21 


PART  II. 

The  Study  of  Variants. 


Sec  riON  I.     General  Remarks,  including  the  Lion  Head 23 

"      II.     The  Palm-Treo   30 

"    III.     The  Serpent 3G 

"     IV.     The  Man 40 

A.  The  Head,    (a.)  The  Full-Face.     1.  The  Gorgoneion.     2.  The  Transverse   Facial 

Line.    3.  The  Radical  of  the  Human  Face,   (b.)  The  Profile. 

B.  The  Radical  of  Man 

"      V.     Other  Variants  from  American  Design G2 

' '    VI .     Difficulties  met  witla  in  analyzing  the  Life-Fonn 63 

"  VII.     The  Study  of  Inscriptions  and  Picfographs 68 


•>  »        3    »  > 


236807 


ARTICLE  yi. 

AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  LIFE-FORM  IN  ART, 

By  Harrison  Allkn,  M.  D., 

Professor  of  Cornpdrative  Anatomy  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Read  Mareli  6tli,  1874. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS. 

Section^  1.  The  Imitative.  We  are  informed  on  the  highest  authority*  that 
the  language-character  of  primitive  people  is  largely  if  not  entirely  composed  of  signs, 
which  are  either  direct  copies  of  familiar  objects,  or  can  be  shown  to  be  derivatives  of 
them. 

A  language  or  letter-type  and  an  art-form  have  thus  much  in  common,  although 
the  processes  are  different  by  which  they  are  evolved.  To  produce  the  letter-type,  a 
series  of  abridgments  must  be  practiced  for  a  long  time,  with  the  result  of  simpli- 
fying the  form  by  the  elimination  of  non-essential  attributes.  Of  course  the  resem- 
blance to  the  original  design  is,  by  such  treatment,  sooner  or  later  lost.  To  produce 
the  art-form  the  rude  outline  becomes  in  time  a  reasonably  faithful  copy  of  the 
natural  model,  and  from  this  realistic  stage  may  pass  under  favoring  conditions  to 
an  art-type  capable  of  expressing  the  highest  culture. 

From  among  the  innumerable  objects  surrounding  man,  those  selected  by  him 
for  delineation  have  been  relatively  few  in  number.  He  appears  to  have  been 
influenced  in  his  choice  by  his  necessities,  both  real  and  imaginary.  Among  the 
first  may  be  placed  the  objects  he  sought  for  food,  and  those  he  dreaded  as  enemies. 
Thus  we  meet  with  figures  of  birds,  fishes  and  the  grazing  animals,  as  well  as  those 
of  rapacious  and  venomous  creatures.  ISText  in  order  may  be  placed  representations 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  signs  of  the  elements,  indicating  his  dread  of  the  violent 
phenomena  of  the  earthquake  and  thunder-storm,  or  his  appreciation  of  the  benefits  of 
rain  and  favoring  winds.      Outlines  of  his  own  form  are  often  of  great  antiquity. 

*  Egypt's  Place  in  Uuiveisal  Plistory,  London,  Chev.  Bunsen,  I,  333.  Five  Ancient  Monarchies,  etc.,  London, 
Geo.  Rawlinsou,  I,  8L  Dissertation  on  the  Nature  of,  and  Charactei* of  the  Chinese  System  of  Writing,  Phila.,  1838, 
XV,  Duponceau. 


\ 


2  AX   ANALYSIS   OF    THE 

They  are  for  the  most  part,  expressive  of  an  anthropotized  deity,  or  of  himself  in 
heroic  action. 

With  such  simple  factors  many  secondary  figures  may  arise  by  specialization  of 
the  details  of  the  more  complex.  The  human  figure  yields  the  head,  and  its  separate 
parts,  the  eye,  mouth,  ear  and  limbs,  particularly  the  hands  and  feet.  The  house 
with  the  gable  and  door  is  appropriated,  each  with  its  special  significance ;  and  as 
the  use  of  weapons  and  household  utensils  become  gradually  adopted,  a  system  of 
picture-signs  is  elaborated  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  the  people  inventing  it. 

The  difl&culty  of  identifying  the  objects  of  such  a  system  is  apparent.  Apart 
from  the  rudeness  of  the  execution,  we  find  objects  closely  resembling  one  another 
having  diversive  significances.  Many  figures,  for  example,  are  circular  in  form,  which 
we  cannot,  from  that  fact  alone,  place  together.  Upon  the  monuments  of  Central 
America  the  circle  is  often  used  to  designate  both  the  human  eye  and  the  ear  drum 
of  reptiles.     It  also  represents  the  moon,*  mammae,  and  a  variety  of  other  things. 

Sectiois^  IL  The  Inventive.  But  many  designs  can  by  no  force  of  ingenuity 
be  included  in  the  list,  either  of  organic  objects,  of  implements,  or  their  derivatives. 
Some  of  these  are  inventions.  This  is  a  natural  result  of  human  effort.  As  earthen 
pottery  could  easily  have  been  suggested  by  the  gourd,  or  hollow  stone,  so  the 
designs  upon  fictile  implements  may  have  arisen  from  the  minor  accidents  oc- 
curing  during  manufactui-e.  The  unintentional  imprint  of  the  finger  tip  may  have 
passed  into  the  ornament  adopted  in  the  pottery  of  the  stone  age  of  Europe.f  In  the 
same  manner  the  stamp  made  by  the  end  of  a  hollow  reedj  may  have  originated  the 
circular  ornament,  as  the  impress  of  a  fibrous  cord  created  the  almost  univei'sal  spiral 
border. 

Excluding  this  gioup  of  objects,  there  3^et  remain  many  markings  such 
as  those  seen  upon  early  pottery,  which  cannot  be  so  explained,  and  are  probably 
examples  of  inventive  design.  Such  are  the  herring-bone  patterns  and  chevrons,  and 
the  numerous  crossed  lines,  which  do  not  form  determinate  figures.  What  the 
ultimate  shaj^es  would  have  been,  originating  from  a  basis  so  meagre,  it  is  difficult  to 
surmise.  There  are  many  elaborate  examples  of  carvings  among  the  South  Sea 
Islanders  in  which  the  simple  repetition  of  the  lines  above  mentioned  is  never  de- 
parted from.     The  result  is  pleasing,  but  without  other  interest. 

*  According  to  Lt.  Simpson  (Reconnoissances  in  New  Mexico,  Texas,  etc,  1850),  the  circle,  among  the  Pueblo 
Indians,  means  the  sun  and  moon, — the  half-ciicle,  clouds, — the  zigzag,  lightning,  etc. 

\  Prehistoric  Times,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  p.  469.  It  is  asserted  by  Wm.  Chaffers  (Keramic  Gallery,  IT,  1872, 
185),  that  the  gourd,  pumpkin,  or  the  fruits  with  a  hard  rind  or  shell,  were  m  England  the  most  primitive  vessels. 

:j:  Antiquity  of  the  Southern  Indians,  particularly  of  tlie  Georgian  Ti-ibes,  Charles  C.  .Jones,  Jr.,  New  York, 
1878,  459. 


LIFE-FORM    IX    ART.  3 

When  an  attempt  to  produce  symmetrical  designs  upon  the  same  supposed 
inventive  basis  is  recognized,  it  is  doubtful  whether  at  some  earlier  stage  of  its 
development  a  class  of  natural  objects  had  not  been  the  original  source  of  inspiration. 
In  the  later  examples  only  of  the  ornamentation  of  the  so-called  Iron  Age  and  the 
Saracenic  styles,  namely  at  the  time  of  approaching  decadence,  do  we  find  engrafted 
upon  them  imitations  of  the  life  form.  In  the  former,  it  is  of  an  animal  type,  and  in 
the  latter,  it  is  a  vine-like  tracery.* 

But  even  here  it  is  not  by  any  means  certain  that  imitation  did  not  fbrm  the 
basis  of  design.  Worsasp  claims  that  the  embellishment  of  the  ornaments  of  the  Iron 
Age  was  derived  from  the  Roman  taste,t  while  for  the  Saracenic,  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  prove  that  at  the  time  of  the  j'apid  development  of  this  style,  much  was 
not  unwittingly  copied  from  the  ancient  n^numentai  ornamentation  constantly  before 
the  Moslem  people. 

The  ease  with  which  designs,  either  apparently  or  really  the  outgrowth  of  man's 
ingenuity,  rather  than  direct  copies  from  nature,  run  into  set  figures,  endlessly  re- 
peating themselves,  is  very  noticeable.  The  time  at  which  a  given  people  will  adopt 
a  pattern  holds  a  direct  relation  to  the  tendency  of  their  art.  If  the  art  inclines  to 
invention,  the  patterns  will  appear  early;  if  it  inclines  to  imitation,  they  will  appear 
late.  We  have  seen  that  primitive  man  copies  the  animal  forms  about  him ;  now  of 
these  the  serpent  is  the  only  one  which  is  facile  to  the  purposes  of  the  pattern-maker, 
if  we  exclude  that  exceptional  accessory,  the  feather.  As  a  result,  the  animal  form 
is  excluded  from  the  arabesque,  which  is  noted  for  its  involved  and  apparently  arti- 
ficial ornamentation  ;  and  towards  its  decline  when  its  typical  expression  has  been 
modified,  the  vegetable  form  is  introduced  instead  of  the  animal.  It  is,  indeed,  almost 
a  necessity  that  the  animal,  or  at  least  the  footed  form  of  it  should  be  so  excluded, 
both  from  the  style  of  the  Iron  Age  and  Islam.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  these 
examples  of  traceries  with  the  elaborate  entwinings  of  Celtic  ornament.  The  labors 
of  the  Celtic  artist  to  construct  monograms  and  mouldings  from  the  animal  form, 
ended  in  a  tangle  of  eccentric  lines ;  and  in  order  to  make  the  four-footed  shape  in 
any  degree  obedient,  it  has  been  stript  of  all  characteristic  proportion  and  made  as 
snake-like  as  possible. J 

*  The  Arabian  Antiquities  of  Spain.     J.  C.  Murphy,  1813. 

f  "The  characteristic  ornamentation  of  the  iron  period  are  symmetrical  windings  and  arabesques.  As  they  not 
infrequently  terminate  in  a  rude  representation  of  the  head  of  some  fantastic  animal,  these  symmetrical  winding 
ornaments  have  been  regarded  as  the  figures  of  snakes,  whence  they  have  been  called  snake  ornaments.  *  *  * 
These  occupy  the  place  of  what  were  originally  leaves."  J.  A.  Worsaae.  The  Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark, 
Loud.,  1849,  73. 

J  For  a  good  example  see  Grammar  of  Ornament.     Owen  Jones,  London,  1856,  pi.  Ixiii. 


4  AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

Section  III.  The  ethnic  value  of  Design.  Having  defined  two  distinct  bases 
for  design,  the  natural  and  artificial,  and  concluding  that  the  former  is  by  far  the 
more  frequent,  it  would  yet  be  unsafe  to  deduce  the  tempting  theory  that  peoples  may 
be  graded  by  the  choice  of  one  or  the  other  of  them.  Prescott*  truly  says  "  coinci- 
dences naturally  spring  up  among  different  nations  under  the  same  phase  of  civiliza- 
tion." May  we  not  go  farther  and  say  that  coincidences  spring  up  as  well  under  differ- 
ent phases  of  civilization  ?  Tribes  upon  the  same  level  may  differ  widely  in  their  art 
methods,  as  well  as  in  the  love  for  the  art  performance.  Wallacef  found  the  Papuans  ex- 
cellent carvers  in  wood,  yet  living  in  a  state  little  better  than  Andamanders — proba- 
bly the  lowest  of  men.  The  Tahitians  when  discovered  by  Cook  were  found  using 
none  but  stone  implements.  LubbockJ  considers  that  we  have  in  this  people  a  fair  ex- 
ample of  one  living  in  an  age  of  stone.  l!^ow  among  the  remains  of  the  people  of  the 
stone  age  in  Europe  have  been  found  fragments  of  bone  covered  with  etchings.  In 
instituting  a  comparison  of  the  art-products  of  these  two  races  so  far  removed  in  time 
and  location,  yet  restricted  to  the  use  of  the  same  tools,  we  find  striking  contrasts. 
The  Tahitian  was  content  to  repeat  indefinitely  a  simple  pattern  composed  of  oblique 
lines,  zigzags  and  lozenges,  a  thing  over-wrought  and  tasteless,  without  a  trace  of  the 
gracefulness  of  the  life-forms  which  were  so  abundant  about  him;  while  the  pre-historic 
designer  drew  what  he  saw  so  accurately  that  his  limnings  have  scientific  value. 
Prof.  Owen§  informs  us  that  some  of  the  characters  of  the  horse,  employed  by  zool- 
ogists to  distinguish  this  animal  from  its  congeners,  to  wit:  the  small  pointed  ears,  the 
bushy  tail,  the  beard-like  hairs  in  the  stallion,  are  all  faithfully  represented  in  etchings 
on  bones  found  in  the  cavern  of  Bruniquel.  The  same  authoi'ity  says  that  the  reindeer 
is  recognizable  among  similar  pre-historic  drawings.     See  also  the  deer  (Fig.  1). 

Surely,  while  we  should  make  every  allowance  for  the  differences  in  motive,  these 
two  people  were  far  removed  in  their  inclinations  as  well  as  their  ability  to  execute. 
But  how  could  it  be  shown  v^hich  was  the  more  advanced  ?  In  no  way  we  think  with 
certainty,  though  conceding  the  accuracy  of  the  statement,  that  picture-painting  leads 
to  alphabet  making,  a  tribe  early  evincing  a  tendency  to  copy  accurately  from  nature 
possesses  a  higher  capacity  for  development  than  another  in  which  such  tendency  is 
imperfectly  manifested. 

Many  illustrations  have  been  given  by  travelers  of  the  dullness  of  perception  of 
the  savage  to  artistic  forms,  a  defect  brought  out  in  strong  contrast  to  the  well-known 

*  History  of  Conquest  of  Peru.,  I,  175. 

t  TheMalay  Archipelago,  A.  R.  Wallace,  New  York,  1869,  p.  21. 
X  Lubbock,  Ibid,  1865,  372. 

§  Description  of  the  Cavern  of  Bruniquel  and  its  Organic  Remains.  Phil.  Trans.,  L->nd.,  1869,  Part  II,  553. 
Ibid,  Part  I,  1864. 


LIFE-FOKM    IN    ART.  5 

acuteness  of  observation  he  shows  m  the  trail,  and  the  remembrance  of  the  human 
face.  ''Of  the  Alfonras  (ISTew  Hollanders),  Oldfield  narrates  that  on  being  shown  a  pic- 
ture of  one  of  themselves,  one  said  it  was  a  ship,  another  a  kangaroo,  not  one  in  a  dozen 
identifying  the  portrait  as  having  any  connection  with  himself."*  Other  examples 
to  the  same  effect  could  be  quoted.  This  peculiarity  evidently  could  not  apply  to  the 
Indians  of  the  northwest  coast  of  ^N^oi'th  America,  who  long  before  any  European  in- 
fluence was  possible  among  them,  produced  elaborate  carvings  of  animal  forms  on 
pipes,  tent  posts  and  other  objects. 

Fijr.     1. 


Realistic  pre-liistoric  design,  f 

It  is  highly  probable,  that  a  tribe  might  be  proficient  in  shaping  a  mass  in  the 
round,  and  yet  be  defective  in  appreciating  it  in  the  flat.  WincklemannJ  has  given  it 
as  his  belief,  that  "  art  began  with  the  simplest  shape  and  by  working  in  clay,  conse- 
quently, with  a  sort  of  statuary ;  for  even  a  child  can  give  a  certain  form  to  a  soft 
mass,  though  unable  to  paint  anything  on  a  surface,  because" — he  continues,  "merely 
an  idea  of  an  object  is  sufficient  for  the  former,  whereas  for  the  latter  much  more 
knowledge  is  requisite."  Herbert  Spencer§  would  lead  us  to  the  opposite  conclusion. 
He  traces  the  gradual  evolution  of  sculpture  from  painting,  and  infers  that  in  advancing 
from  the  rude  outline  on  the  wall,  rock,  or  slab  of  wood  or  stone  to  a  perfect  statue, 
the  painter  has  in  time  became  a  sculptor.  We  recall  the  fable  of  the  Siscyonian 
potter's  daughter,  who  drew  her  lover's  profile  on  the  wall,  and  therewith  began  the 
art  of  sculpture,  and  wonder  whether  after  all  it  may  not  be  true.  We  are  in  no  po- 
sition to  decide  which  of  the  j^ositions  cited  be  the  correct  one,  although  we  would 
not  be  surprised  if  both  hypotheses. prove  correct  within  definite  ranges  of  art-growth. 

*  Lubbock  (I.  c),  348. 

f  Mortillet  Matereaux  pour  I'llistoire  de  I'lTomme  T,  7.S.  Also,  Man's  Origin  and  Destiny.  J.  P.  Lesley,  Pliila. 
1858,  359. 

X  Ancient  Art,  I,  193,  Wincklemann.      Trans,  by  G.  Heni-y  Lodge,  M.  D. 

g  First  Principles,  165.  Dr.  J.  T.  Rothrock  has  informed  us  that  he  has  actually  traced  such  a  transition  among 
tlie  art-products  of  the  people  of  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America,  from  the  interior  country  westward  to  the  sea. 


6  AX    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

In  some  parts  of  the  world  art  may  have  arisen  fi'om  the  making  of  clay  images,  in 
others  from  outline  drawings. 

Section  IY.  The  Realistic.  Without  entering  into  disputations  of  the  origin 
of  the  art-form,  it  is  more  to  our  purpose  to  analyze  those  designs  which  have  origi- 
nated from  models  found  in  nature.  The  art-record  of  an  autocthonous  race — 
particularly  that  including  the  manner  of  representing  animals  and  plants — is  a  fair 
subject  for  study,  entirely  apart  from  the  origin  or  meaning  of  the  outlines,  or  the 
bearings  they  may  have  on  ethnological  questions. 

It  will  at  once  occur  to  the  student  that  the  natural  productions  of  a  counti-y  be- 
ing given,  we  are  in  the  best  position  possible  to  study  its  art.  But  such  a  proposition 
can  have  a  very  limited  application.  It  is  true  that  with  an  isolated  people  the 
images  must  of  necessity  be  confined  to?  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  surrounding 
region ;  but  if  we  are  correct  in  the  statement  that  a  race  with  whom  the  artistic 
faculties  are  as  yet  dormant,  who  are  driven  (if  we  may  so  express  it)  to  etchings  or 
paintings  by  the  combined  forces  of  superstition  and  hunger,  will  secure  but  very 
general  likenesses  in  their  results.  We  may  be  satisfied,  indeed,  if  we  can  assign  even 
as  much  as  the  class  to  which  the  animal  represented  may  belong.  A  fish,  a  serpent,  a 
bird,  a  quadruped — these  are  seen,  and  was  probably  all  that  was  intended.  ]N^o  dis- 
tinction could  be  expected  between  serjDcnts  and  serpent-like  fishes,  or  between 
cetaceans  and  fishes.  But  when  the  shape  is  especially  striking  we  are  enabled  to 
identify  it  more  exactly.  The  kangaroo,*  the  manatee,f  turtle,*  shark,*  trepang,*  and 
star  fish,*  have  been  repeatedly  delineated  by  savages.  Acquaintance  with  the 
remains  of  more  enlightened  races,  such  as  the  Aztecs,  Incarians,  Eg^'ptians  and 
Eastern  Asians,  yield  numbers  of  highly  specialized  shapes  which  can  with  ease  be 
assigned  to  the  genus  and  even  to  the  species  intended.  In  illustration  of  this  remark 
we  may  refer  the  student  to  the  box-lid  of  Incarian  designing  figured  by  Dupaix.| 
Hei'c  can  be  I'ecognized,  through  the  veil  of  conventionalism  shrouding  many  of  the 
representations,  figures  of  the  lizard,  alligator,  capuchin  monkey,  opossum  (Fig. 
20)  and  bustard  (Fig.  2).  The  Aztecsjl  although  less  noted  for  their  exactness  of 
rendition,  make  the  distinction  between  the  tortoise  and  the  turtle ;  and  are  particular 
in  preserving  the  carination  upon  the  scales  of  the  rattlesnake.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  this  people  used  the  same  character  to  foi"m  the  shaft  of  the  feather  in  their 

*  Lubbock,  loc.  cit.,  347. 

t  Prehistoric  Man,  Danl.  Wilson,  London,  183?. 

X  Kingsborough  Coll.,  IV.  See  also  Dupaix,  2,  1,  4  ;  Voy.  Pittoresque  et  ArchaBologique  dans  la  Province 
d' Yucatan  pendant  1834  et  1836,  F.  de  Waldeck,  Paris,  18  58,  pi.  xi. 

ji  Kingsborough,  Ibid.  IV,  Fig.  23. 


LIFE-FOEM   IN   ART. 

Fiff.  3.  Fiff.  3. 


Bustard  of  Incarian  design.  Didelpliian  Mammal  of  Incarian  design. 

delineations  of  plumage.  Fishes  are  so  well  delineated  on  Chaldean  remains,  that  two 
closely  allied  forms,  the  carp  and  the  barbel,  can  be  distinguished.*  In  Egyptian 
art,  noted  for  its  realistic  tendencies,  we  have  animals  so  truthfully  portrayed  that 
naturalists  have  been  enabled  to  identify  many  of  them  f  We  also  find  well- 
defined  realisms  in  the  early  stage  of  Assyrian  art.J  It  is  not  our  purpose  to 
enumerate  the  examples  of  realistic  art  to  be  met  with  in  the  more  familiar  monu- 
ments of  Greece  and  Kome ;  but  may  mention  in  passing  the  really  fine  representa- 
tations  of  crustacea,§  (such  as  crabs  and  lobsters)  and  mollusca,||  in  the  Pompeian 
style. 

The  figui'es  of  animals  and  plants  upon  coins  are  often  rendered  with  great 
fidelity.     "We  may  direct  special  attention  to  the  tunny  upon  Spanish-Roman  coins.^ 

Palissy,  in  his  Rustic  Figulines,  gives  realistic  examples  of  frogs,  fishes,  serpents, 
etc.,  while  his  representations  of  fossil  shells  from  the  Paris  beds  are  so  faithful,  that 
in  many  instances  the  species  can  be  given.**  In  marked  contrast  to  the  average 
Polynesian  designs  may  be  mentioned  the  admirable  figures  of  terns,  cetaceans,  and 
sharks,  carved  on  a  beam  of  a  hut  at  Uji,  one  of  the  Solomon  Group  of  Islands.ff 

Section  Y.  The  Conventional,  (a.)  General  Remarks.  By  far  the  greater 
number  of  designs  adopted  by  man  are  not  of  the  realistic  type.  It  is  a  tendency  of 
the  mind  to  clino-  to  a  model  when  it  has  been  once  removed  from  nature.  The  entire 
fabric  of  society  is  made  up  usages,  the  origin  of  which  is  either  forgotten  or 
ignored.  "C75^  homines  sunt  modi  sunt.  It  is  the  deepest  law  of  man's  nature; 
whereby  man  is  a  craftsman  and  a  '  tool-using '  animal ;  not  the  slave  of  impulse."JJ 
Since  art  is  in  no  wise  exempt  from    the   operation   of   such   influences,  we  find 

*  Rawlinson,  Five  Ancient  Monarchies,  I,  107.  f  Selections  from  Egyptian  Ant.  in  British  Mus.,  Birch. 

X  Botta.  Mon.  deNinive,  pi.  95,  A,  fig.  17. 

§  Museo  Borbonico,  Vol.  IV,  29  ;  Vol.  VI,  38  ;  Vol.  XV. 

II  Agancourt,  History  of  Painting,  Tab.  4,  fig.  4. 

1  Archseologia. 

**  Morley's  Life  of  Palissy,  Boston,  1853,  I,  203.     (Also,  Keramic  Gallery,  Wm.  Chaffers,  I,  pi.  60.) 

ft  Jottings  during  a  Cruise  of  the  Curacoa,  Lieut.  J.  S.  Brenchley,  liOndon,  1873,  Frontispiece. 

iX  Carlyle,  French  Rev.,  11,178. 

2 


Q»  AN    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

mannerisms  early  appearing ;  and  persisting  to  a  degree  varying  with  the  general 
character  of  the  peoj^le  maintaining  them.  We* have  found  that  primitive  people 
are  realistic  in  their  tendencies;  early  art  being  the  purest  so  far  as  faithful- 
ness to  the  model  is  concerned.  We  are  informed  by  Dr.  Brinton='=  (who  is  speaking 
of  the  construction  of  language),  that  "fidelity  to  form  is  everywhere  the  test  of 
excellence."  This  must  be  true  of  all  systems  dependent  on  the  purity  of  types — 
whether  it  be  of  word-roots  or  of  life  forms.  It  is  especially  noticeable  that  nations 
just  emerging  from  darkness  into  the  light  of  civilization,  when  they  have  attained 
sufficient  mastery  over  their  material  to  satisfactorily  produce  what  they  intend,  that 
their  art  is  more  vigorous  and  truthful  than  at  any  subsequent  period.f 

But  in  time,  the  figures  are  distorted  by  conventionalities,  or  encumbered  with 
the  attributes  of  an  obscure  symbolism.  They  no  longer  reflect  the  grace  of  untram- 
meled  motion,  but  the  formalities  of  national  prejudice.  In  some  phases  of  art,  as  for 
example  that  seen  in  Egypt,  it  is  said  development  was  stunted  by  the  enactment 
of  rigid  laws.  But  no  legal  restrictions  are  needed  to  fix  the  customs  of  workmen. 
They  are  a  law  unto  themselves.  It  would  have  been  a  more  difficult  task,  we  be- 
lieve, to  induce  an  Egyptian  artist  of  the  later  dynasties  to  change  his  method  by 
force  of  law  than  to  restrain  him  within  the  familiar  limits  which  had  been  handed 
down  to  him  through  many  generations. 

(b.)  Conditions  Favoring  the  Conventional.  Glancing  at  the  conditions  which 
appear  to  favor  the  conventional,  we  find,  first,  a  rapid  growth  in  the  arts  of  design 
without  a  corresponding  development  of  the  perceptive  powers.  ^N^umerous  examples 
of  this  fertile  course  of  formalism  are  met  with  in  Central  America  and  in  Budd- 
histic India ;  secondly,  the  acceptance  of  a  given  form  as  a  symbol ;  thirdly,  deca- 
dence in  art :  of  the  last  mentioned  we  have  two  varieties,  either  an  abrupt  descent 
from  excellence  incident  to  the  influence  of  the  schools,  in  which  the  style  of  the 
master  is  lost  in  the  mannerism  of  the  disciple,  or  where  art  becomes  tainted  by  the 
whims  of  uncultured  patrons ;  fourthly,  the  gratification  of  the  aesthetic  sense  at  the 
expense  of  the  form.  This  is  easily  derived  from  the  preceding,  and  is  either  char- 
acteristic of  it  or  is  indicative  of  its  approach. 

(c.)  The  Fantastic.  Thus  when  we  see  a  sphinx  delineated  in  the  cincquecento 
style  (it  is  furnished,  let  us  say,  with  an  enormous  tail  volute,  the  basis  of  which  is 
the  acanthus  leaf  and  stem),  we  are  convinced  that  the  artist  has  deliberately 
deserted  his  model  for  one  of  those  "hazardous  caprices  sure  to  please."     Equally 

*  Myths  of  tho  New  World.     D.  G.  Brinton,  M.  D.,  New  York,  18G8,  8. 

t  Layard.     Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  II,  222.     The  author  makes  the  same  application  to  Egyptian  Art,  p.  223. 


LIFE-FORM    IN    ART. 


9 


beautiful  is  the  combination  of  the  man  and  dolphin,  from  the  ruins  at  Athens  "* 
(Fig.  4),  and  that  of  the  woman  and  fish  of  the  popular  myth  of  the  mermaid. 
We  copy  a  curious  figure  (Fig.  5)  of  a  mermaid-like  outline  (possibly  its  prototype), 
which  is  suggestive  of  a  strictly  natural  origin  of  this  form.f 


Fiff.  5. 


Fio;.  4. 


Man-Dolpliin,  from  Athens. 


Merniaid-like  form,  after  llichter. 

It  is  easily  seen  that  with  the  changes  incident  to  the  development  of  an  aesthetic 
taste,  conventionalities  will  present  many  varieties.  With  luxurious  people  they 
merge  into  travesty  and  caricature,  where  may  be  grou|)ed  those  fantastic  figures 
derived  fi-om  Greek  symbols,  seen  in  Roman  and  Etruscan  ArtJ  [Fig.  6]. 

Fig.  6. 


Fantastic  form  of  Fompeian  design. 

*  Antiquities  of  Atliens,  I,  Cliap.  ix,   pi.  22.     Jas.  Stuart,  Lond.,  1762. 
t  Icthyology,  Joli.  G.  O.  Richter.    Leipzig,  1754,  pi.  1. 
|Mus.  Borbonio,  X,tab.  8. 


10  AX    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

(d.)  Ethnic  significance  of  the  ''Fantastic.''^  Selections  of  objects  for  their  beauty, 
or  for  their  power  of  effecting  fanciful  combinations  indicate  an  elevated  position  of 
the  people  ro  employing  them.  Their  appearance  in  the  record  is  evidence  of  im- 
proved facility  in  execution  (hereby  implying  an  advance  in  the  use  of  implements), 
since  a  primitive  people  are  too  much  occupied  with  the  vulgar  necessities  of  living 
to  perpetuate  a  design  for  its  shape  alone. 

What  is  vaguely  called  "grotesque"  and  "fanciful"  are  often  the  "reading  of  our 
own  ideas  into  the  labors  of  others."  We  may,  without  violence,  assume  that  a  peo- 
ple who,  while  portraying  animal  and  vegetable  forms  with  a  conscientious  regard  to 
detail,  occasionally  produce  a  beautiful  shape  of  a  more  or  less  whimsical  character,  are 
rapidly  attaining  perfection  in  design.  Were  all  other  evidence  wanting  to  prove  the 
culture  of  the  Peruvians  under  the  Incas,  the  single  figure  of  a  deer,  whose  body 
furnished  with  wings  terminates  in  the  tail  of  the  dolphin*  (Fig.  7),  would  in  our 
judgment  do  much  toward  re-establishing  the  claim.  The  representation  of  Quet- 
zacoatl  of  AztecJ  (Fig.  9),  in  its  boldness  and  grace  illustrates  the  same  idea.  We 
have  found  the  Incarians  prone  to  realisms  ;  and  it  is  worth  while  in  passing  to  insti- 
tute a  comparison  between  this  "  half-civilized  "  race,  and  the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 
Both  the  realistic  and  the  fantastic  tendencies  of  the  Incarian  is  found  in  the  Chinese 
art.  We  find  here,  copied  with  slavish  fidelity,  figures  of  fishes,  birds  and  mammals, 
side  by  side  with  monstrous  "grotesques." 

We  may  say,  in  conclusion,  that,  should  the  above  proposition  be  received,  its 
application  to  the  study  of  pre-historic  remains  may  ultimately  prove  useful. 

Fig.  7. 


(Jomposite  of  Incarian  Dosiprn. 


*  Kingsborougli,  Coll.  II,  Codex  Vaticensis,  pi.  44. 

f  Kiugsboiougb.     Diipaix. 

X  Kingsborougli,  IV.     Diii  aix. 


IJFE-FOKM    IS    AKT 


n 


Fi"-.  8. 


J'ig.  9. 


( 'omposite  of  ancient  Mediterranean  design.  (*)  Composite  of  Aztec  Design. 

(e.)  The  Grotesque.  The  grotesque  forms,  so-called,  are  always  inventions  or 
rather  composites  suggested  by  natural  models.  They  conform  to  our  standard  of 
what  is  ugly  or  bizarre  more  by  accident  than  intention.  Had  the  conceptions  of  the 
designers  of  the  startling  and  hideous  been  in  consonance  with  our  own,  such  forms  as 
the  toad  and  the  bat — those  traditional  sources  of  metaphors  of  the  ugly — would  be 
more  frequentl}^  seen.  But  these  animals  are  rare  in  art.  The  toad  occasionally  makes 
its  appearance  in  Aztec  and  Peruvian  records,  while  the  bat  is  met  with,  so  far  as  we  can 
recall,  but  in  four  instances,t  and  each  of  these  is  simplicity  itself  compared  to  the 
creations  from  their  own  art  resources.  Had  the  native  Mexican  sought  in  nature 
for  examples  of  ugliness,  he  must  have  been  a  poor  observer  to  overlook  the  CenturioX 
(Fig.  10),  whose  claims  to  a  position  among  the  ugly  things  of  this  world  must  be 
conceded 

Fig.  10. 


Centurio. 

(y.)  Tendencies  of  the  Conventional.     Let  us  glance  at  some   of  the  common 

*Inglirami,  II,  pi.  1,S8. 

fGalindos,  account  of  Mon.  about  Lake  Yashau,  Archaeologia,  xxv,  pi.  60;  Kingsborough,  IV,  Dupaix  ;  BoUaert, 
S.  Ant.  of  A.,  1860.     Frontispiece ;  Waldeck,  F.  de.  I.  c.     See  also  Whipple,  q.  v.,  p.  45. 

XYoyage  of  the  SulpJiur,  Mammalia,  pi.  7.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  identifies  a  profile  serpent-head  as  a  bat's. 
See  "Manuscrit  Troano,"  1859,  209. 


12 


AN    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


tendencies  of  conventionalisms  before  passing  to  the  considerations  of  the  mythic  and 
symbolic  forms. 

One  of  the  most  common  featm-es  of  conventionalisms  is  to  repeat  the  normal 
lines  of  the  model — the  proportions  being  accurately  preserved.  We  notice  this  in 
Assyrian  art,  where  the  tendency  to  multiply  and  make  prominent  the  lines  of  the 
muzzle  and  brow  of  the  lion — their  favorite  animal — is  very  noticeable  (Fig.  11).  Ex- 
travagant at  best,  it  becomes  eccentric  to  a  degree  when  applied  to  other  animals  (Fig. 
12).  In  the  front-faced  view  of  the  Egyptian  figure^  (Fig.  13),  we  find  the  entire 
space  between  the  eye — and  the  brow  occupied  by  a  number  of  lines  drawn  parallel 
with  the  edge  of  the  upper  eye-lid,  whose  multiple  they  represent.  Examples  Oi 
the  same  tendency  exist  in  some  rock  markings  of  IN^orth  America.  As  another 
example  we  may  refer  to  a  pre-columbian  maskf  (Fig.  14),  where  such  lines  pasft 
entirely  round  the  eyes  and  mouth.  See  also  Fig.  1  of  the  Aztec  skull  variants,  (q.  v.) 
for  multiplication  of  the  malar  line. 

Fi{r.  12. 


Fiji-.  11. 


Assyrian  lion-lie.ul.  1 1) 


Fifv.   VA. 


Assyrian  ass-head.  (§) 

Fiir.  14. 


Full-faced  Egyptian  head.  Pre-Columbian  mask,  from  the  Mosquito  shore. 

*  Birch,  I.  c.  ^  Archaeologia.     Chas.  Rogers,  VI,  pi.  11, 107. 

t  The  Mouments  of  Nineveh.    A.  H.  Layard.  Loud.,  1829.  pi.  10.  §  Ibid.  pi.  152. 


LIFE-FOKM    IX    ART.  18 

Another,  and  a  very  beautiful  class  of  conventionalisms  result  from  an  oppo- 
site process,  viz.,  by  diminishing  the  numher  of  the  lines  of  the  models — thus  pre- 
serving all  that  is  essential  to  the  artistic  form  without  violence  to  nature.  The 
figures  of  the  torpedo*  (Fig.  15)  on  some  of  the  Greek  vases  may  be  mentioned  in 
this  connection.  ^N^othing  can  be  more  simple  than  the  lines  composing  this  pleasing 
form — yet  all  the  essential  parts  of  the  animal  have  been  retained. 

Fig.  15. 


Torpedo  from  Greek  amphora. 

(^r.)  The  Symbol.  The  most  interesting  conventionalisms,  however,  are  those 
arising  from  a  symbolic  basis.  The  forms  of  ancient  symbolism  with  which  we  are 
most  familiar,  are  those  belonging  to  the  history  of  the  Indo-Germanic  branch  of  the 
human  race,  including  some  engrafting  received  from  the  Chaldean  stock.f  Since 
much  of  the  interest  in  studying  symbols  is  inextricably  connected  with  the  meanings 
originally  attached  to  them,  we  will  begin  our  remarks  with  the  consideration  of 
one  concerning  which  much  is  known — the  griffin.  We  made  the  acquaintance  of 
this  form  comj^ai'atively  late  in  its  development,  when  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  it  may  have  undergone  many  modifications  in  form,  if  not  in  significance. 
The  griffin  has  been  traced  to  an  Assyrian  source,J  whence  it  appears  to  have 
passed  westward  to  Greece,  and  southward  to  Persepolis  and  Babylon,  if  indeed  it 
may  not  have  passed  from  the  latter  place  primarily.  M.  Roulin§  endeavors  to 
trace  the  griffin  to  an  Indian  origin,  and  asserts  that  its  natural  prototype  is  the 
tapir  (!)  (Fig.  16).     We  are  informed  by  Dennis, ||  that  the   Etruscans  symbolized 

*  Die  GattuDg  Torpado  in  ihren  naturhistorischen  und  antiquarischen  Beziehungen.  J.  F.  M.  v.  Olfers,  Trans. 
Berlin  Academy,  1831,  pi.  3,  fig.  3. 

t  Rawlinson,  Five  An.  Monarchies,  etc.,  I.  c. 

X  Layard,  the  Monuments  of  Nineveh,  I.  c. 

§  Roulin,  M.— Ann.  Sci.  Naturelles,  18J9,  vol.  XVIII,  pi.  5. 

I  Etruria,  I,  220. 


14 


AX   AT!CxVLYSIS    OF    THE 

Fig.  16. 


Houlin's  Tapir-Griffin. 

destructiveness  in  the  griffin,  and  that  its  several  parts  were  representative 
of  aerial  with  terrestrial  rajDacity.  After  the  same  manner  the  hippichthys, 
was  held  to  be  a  union  in  the  flesh  of  the  earth  and  the  sea — an  amphibious 
art-form  denoting  a  soul  in  a  state  of  transition.  However  much  the  spirit  of 
speculation  may  enter  into  our  attempts  to  interpret  such  symbols,  of  this,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  many  of  them  in  their  purer  forms  clearly  expressed  complex 
ideas.*  Ferguson  in  speaking  of  the  Turanians  (^.  e.,  the  central  western  Asian 
races),  remarks:  "With  them  it  is  not  sufficient  that  a  God  should  be  colossal, 
he  must  be  symbolical ;  he  must  have  more  arms  and  legs,  more  heads,  than 
common  man ;  he  must  have  wings  and  attributes  of  power,  or  must  combine  the 
strength  of  a  lion  or  a  bull  with  the  intellect  of  humanity."  "  We  cannot,"  says 
Montaigne,  "  couple  common  faculties,  such  as  our  own,  with  the  other  faculties  that 
astonish  us,  and  are  so  far  out  of  our  sight.  Therefore  it  is,  that  we  give  such  savage 
form  to  demons ;  and  who  does  not  give  Tamerlane  great  eyebrows,  wide  nostrils, 
a  dreadful  face,  and  a  prodigious  stature,  according  to  the  imagination  he  has  con- 
ceived in  us,  by  the  report  of  his  name?"  Here  is  the  motive  which  accounts  for 
much  apparent  extravagance.  As  closely  allied  to  the  foregoing,  may  we  not  find  in 
the  wild  and  otherwise  almost  expressionless  combinations  of  the  Aztec  paintings  a 
faint  meaning  suggested  by  clearer  methods  ?  The  curious  composition  of  a  death's- 
head  and  insect  might  resolve  itself  into  a  symbol  of  the  leaf-devouring  locust.f 
(Fig.  17). 

Fig.  17. 


Composite  of  Aztec  design. 


*  Hist,  of  Arcliitecture,  Ferguson,  I,  51. 


\  Coiex  V'e.inensis,  Kingsborough  Coll.,  pi.  1. 


LIFE-FORM   IN   ART.  15 

The  hypothesis  of  Ehrenberg*  that  the  Sphinx-head  was  derived  from  that  of  the 
baboon  is  ingenious  if  not  in  full  harmony  with  the  theory  of  Birchf  that  this  mystic 
form  is  of  Indian  origin — and  is  part  of  the  primeval  stock  of  "  dasmons  of  terrific 
form,  who  roam  as  bears  and  lions  through  the  vast  forest,  or  rest  in  the  mountain's 
caverned  sides."  The  figure  of  a  leonine  monster,  common  among  Chinese  wood- 
carving,  is  undoubtedly  a  lion,  as  can  be  seen  by  comparing  it  with  the  Sinlias  of 
the  Hindoo-Buddhistic  ornament.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  fiank  of  this  image 
is  maiked  by  a  stellated  figure,  almost  identical  with  an  ornament  similarly  placed 
in  the  Hindoo  Sinhas,  in  the  Assyrian  lion  (Layard,  pi.  131),  in  the  Moslem  animal 
figures  (Murray,  xlviii),  and  in  the  Egyptian  lion  (Lepsius,  A,  vol.  II,  pi.  89). 

(7i.)  The  Zoo-Myth.  It  would  be  an  error  to  suppose,  however,  that  "monsters," 
either  by  addition  of  parts  like  unto  themselves,  or  of  combinations  of  diverse  natures, 
are  of  necessity  symbolical.  Many  of  these  have  doubtless  originated  through  miscon- 
ception of  the  shapes  of  little  known  animals. 

What  we  may  term  fabulous  animals  in  the  pi'oper  sense  of  that  term,  that  is 
those  drawn  up  from  fabulous  accounts, — may  be  placed  in  this  division  of  conven- 
tionalisms.    We  can  readily  explain  their  appearance  in  art  by  one  word — ignorance. 

A  migrating  people  no  longer  content  with  the  products  of  their  own  land,  and 
endeavoring  to  secure  advantages  by  incursions  into  another,  would  naturally 
encounter  many  novel  forms  of  life.  The  more  striking  of  these  would  be  accredited 
to  the  miraculous  or  the  monstrous.  Shapes  when  thus  once  established,  might 
persist  for  an  indefinite  time  and  serve  in  their  turn  to  furnish  models  for  yet  another 
series.  When  we  recall  the  nai'row  limits  which  sometimes  separate  faunae,  as  for 
example  the  deep  channel  of  but  fifteen  miles  in  width,  which  flows  between  thc^ 
islands  of  Bali  and  Lombok,  and  serving  as  the  boundary  between  the  Indo-Malayan 
and  the  Austro-Malayan  fauna3,J  or  what  is  better  known,  though  less  distinctive, 
the  narrow  Dardanelles,  which  divide  the  Asian  from  the  Mediterranean  life, — it  is  a 
matter  of  surprise  that  figures  of  exotic  forms  are  not  more  frequently  seen  in  the 
primitive  art  record. 

What  will  apply  to  the  invader  is  true  of  the  invaded,  conceding  of  course  that 
a  people  thus  encountered,  is  sufl[iciently  advanced  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of 
enriching  its  own  designs.  In  an  Esquimaux  drawing  in  the  ISTational  Museum  of 
Washington,  we  find  recognizable  figures  of  the  reindeer,  along  side  of  a  monstrous 
outline  significant  of  nothing  that  is  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  in  the  waters  under 

*  Ueber  deivGynoceijlialus  iiiid  den  Sphinx  dei-  Egyptien,  etc.,  Trans.  Berlin  Acad.,  1834. 

\  Birch,  Egyptian  Antiq.,  I,  226. 

X  The  Malayan  Archipeligo,  Wallace,  43. 


16  AN    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

the  earth.  Lubbock,*  in  speaking  of  similar  outlines,  ascribes  their  origin,  very 
happily  we  think,  to  the  iigure-head  of  some  vessel  which  had  been  seen  by  the 
native  artist. 

The  ship  itself  may  become  a  part  of  the  mythic  system,  if  we  are  to  credit 
the  following, — which  is  thought  to  refer  to  the  first  remembered  appearance  in 
the  Euphrates,  of  ships  from  a  civilized  country,  and  of  the  introduction  into 
Chaldea  of  the  arts  of  civilizied  life:t  "In  the  first  year  there  appeared  an  animal 
destitute  of  reason,  by  name  Oannes,  whose  whole  body  was  that  of  a  fish  w^ith 
feet  also  similar  to  those  of  a  man.  *  *  *  This  being  was  accustomed  to  pass  the  day 
among  men,  *  *  *  and  when  the  sun  was  set  '^'  *  '"  retired  again  to  the  sea,  and  passed 
the  night  in  the  deep."  We  have  abundant  evidence  that  ships  have  at  all  times 
impressed  coast-haunting  tribes  with  wonder.  The  AztecsJ  called  the  vessels  of 
Cortez  "  water-houses,"  and  faithfully  recorded  after  their  fashion,  every  particular 
concerning  them.§ 

As  an  illustration  of  the  difiiculty  encountered  by  an  artist  in  representing  an 
object  with  which  he  is  not  familiar,  we  may  cite  the  following : 

It  is  well  known!  that  when  the  Spaniards  under  Cortes  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Mexico,  they  were  subjected  to  delays  prior  to  their  march  to  the  capital.  During 
this  time  some  of  the  natives  hovering  about  the  invaders,  were  observed  sketching. 
Fac-similes  of  these  drawings  are  to  be  found  in  the  Kingsborough  Collec- 
tion.^ We  find  among  them  figures  of  the  soldiers,  priests,  ships,  horses,  etc. 
The  artists  had  apparently  no  difficulty  in  representing  the  warrior  and  the  priest,  for 
they  differed  from  their  own  j^eople  only  in  color  and  costume.  But  the  horse  had 
evidently  puzzled  them.  It  was  a  novel  shape,  and  their  conventional  lines  were  not 
mobile  enough  to  receive  it.  It  was  natural,  under  the  circumstances  for  them  to 
represent  it  as  a  puma  (Fig.  19),  for  this  figure  they  had  repeatedly  drawn.  This 
puma-headed  horse  might  w^ell  have  stood  for  some  such  expression  as  the  following, 
had  written  language  been  employed :  "  The  soldiers  are  in  part  mounted  upon 
strange  animals,  whose  necks  and  tails  are  furnished  with  long  hair,  and  whose  single 
toe-nail  of  each  foot  is  encased  in  a  stone-like  shoe."     Afterward  the  horse  was  more 

*  Prehistoric  Times,  p.  570,  new  edition, 
t  Prehistoric  Nation?,  Baldwin,  p.  186. 
X  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Prescott,  I,  304. 

§  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  following  the  prevalent  belief  of  his  times,  thought  that  dog-headed  men  inhabited  EI 
Dorado,  i.  e.,  the  Valley  of  the  Amazon.  Humboldt  says  of  this  statement,  "that  it  was  a  gigantic  lie."  Kingsley 
(Miscellanies,  Ticknor  &  Fields,  1859,  p.  31)  remarks  that  they  were  probably  Indians,  wearing  animal  masks, 
probably  from  the  Aguara-head. 

I  Conquest  of  Peru,  Prescott,  I,  304.  t  Codex  Reminensis,  pj.  32, 


LIFE-FORM    IX    ART 


17 


Ficf.  19. 


Fm.  20. 


Mounted  Spaniards  of  Azt3c  Design. 

accurately  drawn  (Fig.  20).*  l^ow  let  it  be  supposed  that  the  S])aniaid  iiiiinediately 
after  this  incursion  had  withdrawn  from  the  coast — is  it  not  possible  that  the  puma- 
headed  figure  would  have  passed  into  the  traditions  of  the  Aztecs  as  a  fabulous  visi- 
tor? ISTor  is  it  asserting  too  much  to  say  that  under  similar  circumstances  a  Centaur- 
like myth  might  have  thus  sprung  into  existence  ;  for  we  are  told  that  the  horse  ex- 
cited great  alarm  in  the  minds  of  the  Peruvians  upon  witnessing  the  Spanish  cavalry 
dismount ;  "these  simple  people  thinking  that  the  rider  and  the  horse  were  one."t 

(i.)  The  Errors  of  JVaturalists  in  depicting  Animals.  In  proof  of  the  manner 
in  which  figures  of  exotic  animals  may  undergo  modifications,  even  when  drawn  for 
zoological  purposes,  we  may  allude  to  the  history  of  the  Walrus  as  given  by  Gray  J 
(Fig.  21).    Surely  this  figure  is  no  more  than  the  merest  dream-portrait  of  Trichetus, 

Fiff.  21. 


Fi;.(nrp  of  Walrus,  after  Olnus  Magnus. 

yet    it    was  at  one  time,   no    doubt,    a  fair  diagrammatic  expression  of  what    was 
known  of  its  proportions. 

Pare§  has   given    us  an  illustration  of  a  combat   between   an   elephant   and 

*  Codex  Bodleianse,  Kingsborough  Coll.,  pi.  41. 

f  Conquest  of  Peru,  Prescott,  I,  254. 

X  Attitudes  and  Figures  of  the  Morse,  J.  E.  Gray,  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  of  Lond.  1853,  p.  112. 

^  The  works  of  that  famous  cliirurgeon,  Ambroise  Pare,  (Trans.)  London,  1649,  p.  45. 


18 


AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


a  rhinoceros.  The  animals  are  placed  in  most  amusing  attitudes.  The  elephant 
with  tusks  pointing  upward  as  in  the  above  figure  of  the  walrus,  advances  with 
lowering  head,  using  his  proboscis  as  a  weapon  of  offense. 

The  description  and  figure  of  the  opossum*  (as  we  interpret  it)  given  by  the 


Fig.  2?. 


Didelphian  Mammal  from  Iiicaiian  design. 

same  writer,  is  worth  mentioning  in  this  connection.  The  absurdity  of  the  elaborate 
figure  of  Gesner,  from  whom  Pare  quotes,  is  only  equaled  by  the  fidelity  to  the 
idea  preserved  in  the  rude  and  unembellished  outline  (Fig.  22),  of  the  opposum-like 
animal  drawn  by  a  native  artist.  One  of  the  most  curious  of  all  raal-constructions 
is  found  in  Aldrovandus.f  It  is  the  figure  of  a  saw-fish,  given  as  a  cetacean,  with 
the  saw  in  the  position  of  a  horn  projecting  forward  from  the  middle  of  the  head 
(Fig.  23).     It  is  an  easy  task  to  explain  these  absurdities.     They  are  all  dependent 

Fig.  23. 


Figure  of  Saw-Fisli,  after  Aldi-ovaiulni- . 

upon  attempts  either  to  reconstruct  an  entire  figure  from  a  fragment, — or  in  endow- 

*  Kingsborough  Coll.,  IV,  (Dupaix),  (Incarian  bnx-lid.) 
f  Aldrovandns,  Pisees,  p.  ()95. 


LIFK-POKM   IX    ART.  19 

lug  an  animal  which  is  of  unknown  habits  with  functions  in  harmony  witli  those 
famihar  to  the  writer.  The  wah'us  and  elephant  tusks,  and  the  saw-fish's  maxillae 
doubtless  found  their  way  to  European  museums  long  before  the  illiterate  traders 
who  brought  them,  could  give  any  other  accounts  than  those  into  which  their 
imagination  largely  entered.  The  naturalist  would  draw  the  tusks  of  the  walrus 
and  elephant  in  the  position  of  the  wild  boar,  the  only  animal  he  had  ever  seen  which 
possessed  such  api^endages. 

Akin  to  the  above  are  the  numerous  examples  which  crowd  the  zoological 
record  of  errors  of  identification  of  actual  forms.  For  the  explanation  of  the  fact 
that  Aldrovandus*  described  the  shriveled  skin  of  a  plagiostomatous  fish  as  the 
remains  of  a  dragon  (Fig.  24),  we  have  only  to  look  over  the  distorted  specimens 

Fig.  24. 


Fiyure  of  Ray,  after  Aldrovaudus. 

of  every  ichthyological  cabinet.  We  could  fill  many  pages  with  this  kind  of  illus- 
tration, but  will  content  ourselves  with  referring  to  one.  of  the  most  curious  of  them. 
Leibnitz,  who  was  gifted  with  a  marvelous  intellect  in  which  it  has  been  said, 
"  mathematics  and  moral  philosophy,  history  and  philology  for  the  first  time  found  a 
common  seat,"  was  so  far  led  astray  as  to  describe  the  bones  of  a  rhinoceros  as  those 
of  a  unicorn,  and  to  attempt  to  restore  them  in  normal  position  (Fig.  25).  The 
tusk  in  this  figure  evidently  did  not  belong  to  the  rest  of  the  skeleton.  "  This  skele- 
ton of  the  unicorn  was  found,"  says  he,  "with  the  hind  part  of  the  body  reclining  as 
is  usual  with  animals,  but  the  head  elevated,  bearing  on  the  front  a  long  extended 
horn  of  nearly  five  cubits,  of  the  thickness  of  the  leg  of  a  man."t  That  a  fossil 
unicorn  had  existed  in  past  times,  when,  in  common  with  all  cotemporaries,  the 
author  believed  that  a  unicorn  was  to  be  found  in  Abyssinia,  was  after  all  a  natural 

*  Aldrovandus,  Pisces,  316. 

t  Physicam  Generalem,  C^hymiam,  Medicani.  Botan,  Histor.  Natur.  etc.,  1778. 


20  AX   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

Fig.  25. 


A  restoration  of  the  Unicorn,  after  Leibnitz. 

inference.     It  is  the  first  step  that  costs  ;  once  having  accepted  the  existence  of  the. 
unicorn,  the  rest  was  easy. 

Even  when  an  actual  animal  is  described, — often  figiu'atively,  never  faultlessly, 
— is  there  not  a  wide  margin  left  for  error  to  roam  over?  In  a  scientific  sense,  the  hip- 
popotamus described  by  Herodotus,*  as  having  the  hoof  of  an  ox,  and  the  mane  and 
tail  of  a  horse,  is  of  course  absurd ;  in  an  artistic  sense,  a  quadruped  thus  hoofed  and 
maned  would  be  simply  monstrous.  The  intention  of  Herodotus  to  convey  the  notion 
that  the  hippopotamus  was  an  animal  combining  ox  and  horse-like  characters  was  cer- 
tainly successfully  carried  out  by  the  use  of  figurative  expressions,  which,  so  faf 
from  suggesting  a  portrait  of  the  creature  itself,  would  directly  mislead.f 

*  Swayne's  Herodotus,  50, 

f  There  is  a  curious  example  of  this  kind  of  misinterpretation  in  Retsch's  outline  drawings  of  Goethe's  Faust.  In 

the  first  scene  with  Mephistopholes  a  poodle  (which  contains,  as  a  "nucleus,"  the  essence  of  the  demon)  undergoes 

transfornaation. 

"  Faust,  Er  hebt  sich  niit  Gewalt ! 

Das  ist  nicht  eines  Hundes  Oesfalt ! 

Welch  ein  Gespenst  bracht'  ich  ins  Haus  ! 

8chon  sieht  er  wie  ein  Nilpferd  aus, 

Mit  feurigen  Augen,  schrecklicheni  Gebiss." 

Retsch  draws  as  appearing  befoi'o  the  eyes  of  the  astonished  Faust,  not  a  hippopotamus,   (Nilpferd)  bui  an 

enoniiouK  poodle.  • 


LIFE-FORM   IN   ART.  21 

Section  VI.  The  Dragoyi.  The  myths  which  have  been  gToiiped  under  the 
name  of  "  dragon,"  are  of  such  diverse  character,  and  have  been  througli  so  many 
ages  associated  with  popular  fancies,  that  we  have  thought  it  of  interest  to  give  some 
account  of  its  possible  origin  and  meaning. 

The  Asiatic  dragon  is  evidently  a  very  different  form  from  the  European.  At 
least  the  "  fabulous  animal "  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  ornament,  is  based  apparently 
on  the  salamander  type  of  body,  with  bird-like  feet.  This  is  well  shown  in  recent 
examples  of  this  design  upon  Japanese  bronzes.  The  heads  are  more  nondescript, 
and  are  furnished  with  some  piscine  characters,  such  as  barbels,  and  an  outline  sug- 
gesting the  catfish-like  fishes  found  in  the  waters  about  Japan.  The  early  form  of 
the  European  dragon,  according  to  Aldrovandus  {l.  c),  is  probably  based  upon  the 
lizard  type.  It  is  scaled,  and  has  a  well-marked  lacertilian  body,  and,  it  may  be  a 
mammalian  head.  The  tail  and  neck  are  often  those  of  a  serpent.  The  artistic 
interpretation  of  the  dragon  varies  from  the  realistic  forms  of  Durer,  who,  in  his  St. 
George,  favors  us  with  a  very  fair  zoological  figure  of  a  lizard,  through  the  humanized 
bat-winged  outlines  of  Giotto,  to  the  curious  comj)ound  of  owl  and  serpent  of  Lucas  v. 
Ley  den,  and  the  equally  odd  combination  of  man  and  insect  of  Martin  Schoen.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  much  ,of  this  kind  of  work  is  purely  whimsical.  It  is  quite  impossi- 
ble to  surmise  with  any  nearness  to  truth  what  the  models  were  like  from  which  they 
sprung.  The  combination  of  parts  sometimes  suggests  that  rapacity  was  always  in- 
tended ;  and  at  least  in  the  latter  forms  of  the  myth  it  has  been  the  symbol  of  oppres- 
sion and  cruelty. 

In  a  very  curious  pamphlet*  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Academy  of  ISTatural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  an  elaborate  effort  is  made  to  prove  that  the  dragon  was 
extant  at  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century.  From  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  the 
author  favors  us  with  the  following  description  of  this  animal :  "  The  dragon  is  from 
eight  to  nine  feet  long,  rarely  more.  Its  color  varies  ;  commonly  red,  it  is  at  times  of 
a  black  or  ash  color.  The  heads  of  some  individuals  are  crested,  and  the  jaws  are 
furnished  with  sharp  teeth.  The  mouth  can  be  opened  to  an  extraordinary  extent. 
The  wings,  which  are  without  feathers  and  resemble  those  of  a  bat,  maintain  flight 
with  some  difficulty.  The  body  is  covered  with  scales  of  such  strength  that  they 
have  resisted  balls.  The  strength  of  the  dragon  is  such  it  can  engage  the  eagle  and 
the  elephant  to  advantage.  The  tail  is  no  less  feared  than  its  mortal  bite.  It  is  used 
with  success  in  squeezing  the  prey,  or  striking  it  when  thrown  to  the  ground." 

The  congruity  of  parts  expressed  in  such  a  creature,  which  is  "  neither  fish,  flesh, 
fowl,  nor  good  red  herring,"  w^as  probably  prominent  with  those  who  have  a  lingering 

*0n  tlie  History  of  the  Dragon.     C.  I.  i\I.  Doi-feuille. 


22  AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

belief  that  the  origin  of  the  dragon  is  to  be  found  in  the  remnants  of  the  paleozoic  world 
"where,"  in  the  language  of  Thackaray,  "mighty  monsters  floundered  through  the 
ooze — and  dragons  darted  out  of  the  caves  and  waters  before  man  was  made  to  slay 
them."*  Mr.  Waterhouse  Hawkins,  the  well-known  scientific  artist,  entertains  the  be- 
lief that  the  dragon  is  a  reminiscence  of  an  extinct  reptilian  shape,  noticeably  the 
Pterodactylian  type.  We  cannot  agree  with  him  in  such  a  conclusion.  The  form  oi 
the  dragon  is  not  a  fixed  one,  and  its  varieties  can  better  be  accounted  for  by  reference 
to  familiar  models  than  in  seeking  figures  among  such  absolute  novelties.  Amid  all 
the  combinations  making  the  dragon,  the  idea  is  crajnped  and  limited.  He  is  a  mere 
piece  of  of  patch- work — a  monster  by  addition — each  portion,  when  dissected,  turns 
out  to  be  an  old  acquaintance — here  a  bird-foot,  there  an  owl's  head,  or  a  serpent's  tail. 
Indeed  who  could  expect  man  to  have  reconstructed  to  such  suggestive  forms  the  im- 
pression of  a  Pterodactyl,  possibly  received  from  a  fossil !  Surely  after  the  blunder  of  a 
Leibnitz,  we  may  well  declare  the  average  man  of  the  Middle  Ages,  if  not  of  an  earlier 
time,  disqualified  to  testify  on  such  a  topic.  To  say  that  by  coincidence  man  may 
have  invented  a  "  fabulous  creature"  like  unto  those  that  have  lived  in  the  past,  is  to 
make  an  assertion  which  cannot  be  supported.  Man  has  never  invented  a  single  artistic 
figure.  He  has  analj^zed  and  infinitely  re-arranged  the  integers  of  organic  form, 
but  he  has  never  in  all  his  vagaries  or  in  his  groupings  after  truth  struck  out  a  new 
form. 

Fig.  25.  . 


Dragon,  after  Aklrovandus. 

»Prof.  E.  D.  Cope  (Synop.  of  the  Batrach.  and  Reptilia  of  N.  A.  Trans.  Pliilo.  Soc,  Pliila.,  1870,  182)  remarks 
that  the  "  restored  figure  of  Mosasaurus  is  not  badly  represented  by  old  Pontoppidan's  figure  of  his  sea-serpent,  and  that 
in  this  group  of  reptiles  we  almost  realize  the  fictions  of  snake-like  dragons  an  I  sea-serpents  in  which  men  have  been 
ever  prone  to  indulge. ' ' 


LIFE-FORM   IN   ART.  2tS 


PART   II. 

The  Study  of  Variants. 

Section  I.  General  RemarTcs.  Mr.  Tylor  in  his  work  on  Primitive  Cultnre  has 
treated  of  the  several  articles  composing  the  armamentarium  of  early  man  as  species. 
Thus  the  hatchet  is  a  species,  so  are  bows,  arrows,  etc.  We  have  taken  a  hint  from 
this  and  believe  it  to  be  instructive  to  call  the  forms  of  life  of  the  art-record  "  species." 
The  range  within  which  they  are  encountei'ed  may  be  termed  the  limits  of  distribu- 
tion, and  the  forms  in  this  way  included,  as  the  faunae  or  florae  respectively.  The 
Asio-European  lion,  for  example,  has  a  distribution  from  Chaldea  to  Western  Europe. 
Its  varieties  have  established  themselves  along  the  route  of  man's  migration  and  are 
seen  to  vary  in  style  from  the  Chaldean  to  that  of  the  modern  stone-cutter.  It  is 
convenient  to  push  the  comparison  between  an  archaeological  and  a  zoological  pro- 
cess yet  farther  and  name  the  ways  by  which  a  given  sjjecies  may  be  represented 
as  variants  of  that  species,  adopting  a  term  already  employed  by  Bunsen  in  his  re- 
searches among  the  Egyptian  ideographs,  and  by  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg 
among  the  Aztec. 

This  history  of  an  art-species  is  in  some  cases  almost  as  definite  as  that  of  the  people 
of  whose  remains  it  constitutes  a  part.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  study  of  variants 
should  go  hand  in  hand  with  chronology^  With  it,  we  can  trace  with  ease  their  muta- 
tions and  prove  the  order  of  their  succession ;  without  it — the  premises  falsely  as- 
sumed— imagination  may  select  the  forms  and  specious  reasoning  determine  their 
positions. 

But  are  we  on  that  account  to  restrict  our  studies  to  cultured  races  ?  ISTo,  if  we  can 
find  standards  of  comparison  among  the  forms  themselves  ;  and  as  the  zoologist  seeks 
for  standards  by  which  to  classify  living  objects,  so  the  student  of  art,  we  hope  to 
show,  can  secure  in  the  art  remains  of  a  given  people  certain  types  of  construction. 
These  may  be  in  harmony  with  chronology  ;  and  if  so,  their  value  is  doubtless  in- 
creased. But  even  without  this  aid  we  believe  they  can  be  made  interesting.  In 
proportion  as  the  material  for  the  elimination  of  such  types  is  more  or  less  complete, 
so  will  the  types  themselves  be  more  or  less  accurate,  a  conclusion  again  in  exact 
harmony  with  the  results  of  the  naturalists'  method.  In  a  word  we  propose  to  study 
the  animal  form  in  art  as  though  it  were  a  natural  form,  employing  chronology,  when 
we  can,  as  an  accessory  of  acknowledged  value. 

In  studying  variants  we  propose  the  use  of  the  following  terms : 

The  primitive  designs  found  in  painting,  etc.,  we  term  primals. 
4 


24  AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THP^ 

The  final  forms  resulting  from  a  series  of  variants  starting  with  the  primals  we 
term  ultimates.  By  divergence  of  variants  from  the  primal  stock  (one  to  the  letter 
type,  and  the  other  to  the  realistic)  we  must  have  to  every  primal  two  ultimate  forms. 

By  a  radical  is  meant  that  figure  which  preserves  the  essential  lines  of  a  natural 
series  of  variants.  It  is  best  seen  in  foniis  leading  to  an  ideographic  system.  The  diffi- 
culty of  distinguishing  a  primal  from  the  equally  naked  and  unsuggestive  letter-ulti- 
mate is  apparent,  and  without  aid  from  another  source  is  often  impossible. 

Radicals  will  necessarily  vary  according  to  the  method  of  execution.  The  parts 
which  are  produced  with  the  greatest  ease  are  naturally  those  which  persist  in  the 
process  of  reducing  a  complex  form  to  its  simplest  expression.  In  drawing,  stress  will 
be  laid  on  the  lines ;  in  moulding,  the  lines  will  be  subordinated  to  the  general  figure, 
as  shaped  by  the  figures.  The  picture  radicals  will  thus  differ  from  fictile  radicals,  as 
also  will  architectural  and  numismatic  radicals.  Neither  should  it  be  forgotten  that 
to  the  females  of  many  tribes  has  the  work  been  allotted  of  ornamenting  the  pottery 
and  other  articles,  while  the  recording  of  exploits,  etc.,  has  been  reserved  to  the  males. 

In  presenting  a  number  of  variants  from  a  few  types  of  life  we  propose  the  follow- 
ing method : 

A  radical  will  be  taken,  which  has  been  developed  through  many  variations  from, 
a  primal  forai.  The  time  required  to  have  accomplished  this  is,  in  every  instance, 
unknown.  We  must  assume  from  what  we  see  in  the  art  of  savages  that  in  figure-mak- 
ing, as  in  everything  else  of  man's  creation,  there  has  been  an  ever-active  though  gradual 
process  of  evolution  at  work ;  and  that  in  the  primals  of  an  art  series  this  has  but 
begun.  Neither  can  we  form  any  idea  from  contemplating  the  ultimate  expressions 
of  forms  belonging  to  old  and  cultured  races  what  their  crude  primals  may  have  been. 
Such  imperfections  of  the  art-record  compel  us  to  take  the  radical  as  it  is  presented 
and  trace  from  this  the  most  probable  ultimate  rather  than  to  take  the  ultimate  and 
trace  it  back  to  its  radical. 

Let  us  accept  A  to  be  a  primal,  and  B  an  ultimate,  and  C  a  radical.    We  cannot 


conceive  the  Egyptian  lion  at  B,  to  have  sprung  at  once  into  a  realistic  ultimate, 
but  rather  that  it  has  been  evolved  from  the  unknown  primal  at  A.  And  we  infer 
that  C  is  a  lettei*^type  abiidgment  of  B,  a  descent  from   the  completeness  of  the 


LIFE-FORM   IN    AliT. 


artistic  figure,  but  nevertheless  a  sequence  of  it.  The  natural  order  of  the  compari- 
son would  be  from  B  to  C,  the  chronology  being  given.  But  we  think  it  may  prove 
more  interesting  in  reviewing  the  entire  range  of  art — in  many  portions  of  which  we 
have  no  literary  complement — to  present  the  problem  and  seek  the  solution  rather 
than  to  give  the  solution  and  create  the  problem. 

From  the  study  of  variants,  the  following  conclusions  may  be  drawn : 

(1.)  That  the  conditions  determining  the  forms  of  variants  must  be  exceedingly 
diverse.  A  full  series  may  be  confined  within  the  space  of  a  sheet  of  manuscript — 
as  is  often  the  case  in  the  Dresden  Codex,  or  (as  may  be  seen)  in  the  ornamentation 
of  a  batch  of  earthen  pots  of  the  same  baking.  On  the  other  hand,  a  series  may 
extend  through  the  entire  art-range  of  a  given  people — and  taken  many  years  to  have 
completed. 

(*2.)  That  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  in  some  phases  of  variants,  a  single 
feature  will  be  selected  from  a  complex  form  and  serve  as  the  basis  of  a  distinct  series 
of  changes.  Thus  the  curve  of  the  open  mouth  of  the  serpent  seen  in  profile,  and  the 
rattle  at  the  end  of  its  tail,  are  often  dismembered  from  the  rest  of  the  trunk,  as 
though  they  were  parts  of  a  mosaic,  and  allowed  to  exist  separately.  The  occurence 
of  this  dismemberment  proves  that  the  type  is  not  concrete.  One  cannot  imagine 
the  Egyptian  sign  v  x->.  (priest)  being  rendered  by  either  jy  or  C\  fcr  one 
is  as  essential  to     /        y  the  other  as  a  cross  is  t:)  the    / — •  letter  t. 

When,  in  speaking  of  a  form,  like  the  genus  Hydra,  which  permits  self-division, 
a  likelihood  exists  of  the  severed  parts  surviving,  a  low  type  of  organization  is 
thereby  implied. 

(3.)  As  one  in  studying  the  water-lily,  finds  the  petals  gradually  turning  into 
stamens  as  he  j^asses  in  observation  from  the  margin  to  the  centre  of  the  flower,  so 
we  find  strange  transitions  occuring  in  the  many-times  repeated  objects  of  early  ai't ; 
transitions  so  sti'ange.  that  unless  we  carefully  observe  them  we  would  have  declared 
them  to  be  improbable. 

(4.)  In  Aztec  design  so  vast  is  the  labyrinth  of  shifting  form,  so  slight  the 
thread  of  consistency  that  guides  us  through  it,  so  cumbersome,   whimsical   and 
tasteless,  is  much  of  its  ornament,  that  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  are  occasionally 
puzzled,  and  sometimes  defeated  in  our  attempts  to  identify  its  objects.     The  outline 
for  example,  may  stand  for  a  human  leg,  a  hand,  and  a  human  face  seen  in      r-i 
profile.     In  some  instances  we  have  been  unable  to  name  outlines,  and  guessed  J   | 
only  at  others.     The  latter  we  have  withheld  from  the  sei-ies  ilhistrating  Aztec  — 
design,  and  can  conscientiously  say  of  such  what  Prescott*  would  say  of  the  whole, 

*  Conquest  of  Mexico,  I,  104. 


26 


AN    ANALYSIS   OF    THE 


that  "  the  fantastic  forms  of  hieroglyphic  symbols  may  afford  ^analogies  for  almost 
anything." 


Fig.  26. 


Associated  variants  of  parrot,  Dresden  Codex. 


(5.)  The  often  repeated  signs  of  apparently  the  same  value,  so  common  in  Aztec 
art,  must  express  a  repetition  of  the  same  idea.  Were  it  otherwise,  the  ideographs 
would  degenerate  into  the  figures  of  a  pattern.  We  must  acknowledge  that  repeti- 
tion i^  often  a  law  of  force.  Such  expressions  as  "  Hail,  hail,  hail,  Macbeth  !"  and 
"Holy,  holy,  holy,  art  thou  Lord  of  Hosts!"  are  strengthenings, — the  result  of  unions 
of  simple  factors.  After  the  same  method  the  parrot-head  sign  r^^  of  the  Dresden 
Codex  is  emphasized  by  rg^^lt  as  though  the  meaning  were  :  ^— ^  "  Great,  great, 
is  this  symbol."  But  in  ^  ^  a  zoological  sense  reiDctition  of  similar  pai'ts — or,  as 
it  is  technically  termed,  "  vegetative  repetition," — is  an  evidence  of  low  organiza- 
tion. An  idea  when  repeated  through  its  symbol  is  thereby  emphasized,  but  when  a 
form  or  part  of  a  form  not  symbolic,  is  repeated,  it  remains  the  same,  or  exists  with 
impaired  vitality.  Should  this  reflection  prove  true,  we  may  determine  the  value 
of  certain  variants  by  their  positions  and  number  as  well  as  by  their  form. 

Before  entering  upon  the  subject  of  variants,  a  series  of  ultimates  may  be  sought 
for  among  the  higher  phases  of  art-portraiture,  the  members  of  which  may  be  tenned 
"types."  Thus  the  following  ultimate  forms  of  lion-heads  of  Asia,  Egypt  and 
Europe,  are  presented  as  art-types,  many  of  which  have  never  sat  as  models  for 
lineal  abridgments,  or  radicals. 

The  full-faced  Lion  Head  with  muzzle  lines.  This  series  is  designed  to  exhibit  the 
style  of  lion-head  marked  by  pronounced  labiate  or  muzzle  lines. 


LIFE-FORM   IN    ART. 


27 


Fig.  27.  (*) 


LlOX    WITH    MUZZLE   LINES. 

Fig.  28.  (f) 


Roman. 
Fig.  30.  (D 


Fi,;.  31.  (1) 


Etruscan . 

Fig.  34.  (tt) 


Greek. 


Etruscan. 

Fig.  32.  (•[) 


Egyptian. 
Fig.  35.  (U) 


Assyrian. 

*  From  a  Roman  sarcophagus. 

f  From  an  Etruscan  bronze  at  the  Campodoglio. 

X  Mus.  Borbonico,  VIII,  tab.  61. 

§  L'ltalie  avant  la  domination  des  Romains,  M.  J.  Micali,  Paris.  182(',  pi.  1)2,  2. 

i  Mus.  Borbonico,  LXII,  lig.  2. 

•j  Ilirt.  Trans.  Ber.  Acad.,  1821,  pi.  4,  fig.  35. 

**  Birch  Selections  of  Egyptian  Art  in  British  Museum. 

tt  Botta,  Monuments  de  Ninive,  IV,  pi.  151. 

:]::{:  Botta,  Monuments  de  Ninive,  II,  pi.  47. 

§^  Flandin  ft  Coste.  Voyage  en  Perse,  pi.  102. 


Fig.  29.  (t) 


Roman. 
Fig. 33. (**) 


Egyptian. 
Fig.  36.  (gi^) 


Persian. 


28 


AI^   ANALYSIS   OF    THE 


The  Profile  Lion  Head,  In  a  series  of  profile  heads  confined  to  Western  Asia, 
it  is  probable  that  Fig.  37  was  derived  by  abridgment  from  a  model  such  as  Fig  41, 
or  even  42,  permitting  Fig.  40,  an  Etruscan  form,  to  come  between.  The  pertinence  of 
an  Etruscan  outlme  in  a  series  of  this  kind,  may  be  doubted  by  many.  Is  the 
resemblance  between  these  heads  any  less  exact  than  between  many  figures  of 
Etruscan  and  Persian,  and  even  Mesopotamian  art,  as  seen  in  Micali  and  Lajard  ? 


Fig.  87.  (*)     Fig.  38.  (f)     Fig.  39.  (t)        Fig.  40.  (§) 


Fig.  41.  (II) 


Fig.  42.  (1) 


f\ 


In  a  second  scries  of  profile  heads  selected  from  Persian  and  Etrurian  sources, 
we  hope  that  the  order  of  the  figures,  and  the  references  at  the  bottom  of  the  page 
will  serve  for  sufficient  explanation.  It  is  highly  instructive  that  the  ultimate  "(Fig. 
49)  is  the  source  of  the  abridgment  (Fig.  43).  At  first  sight,  it  would  appear  absurd 
to  associate  a  Persian  outline  with  another  in  Etruria.  But  a  comparison  between 
many  figures  of  Inghrami,  Micali  and  Lajard,  must  convince  the  observer  that  more 
than  a  superficial  resemblance  exist  between  Persian  and  Etruscan  figures,  however, 
the  historian  may  explain  it.  And  we  assume  from  what  we  have  seen  in  the 
lion  heads  (Figs.  28  and  30),  as  well  as  from  the  series  to  be  presented,  that  the  art- 
forms  of  Etruria  were  moulded  upon  types  which  originated  in  Asia  and  Egypt. 


*  Travels  in  Georgia,  Persia,  Armenia,  Babylonia,  &c,,  Sir  R.  K.  Poi-ter,  Load.,  1821,  opp.,  p.  424. 

f  Culte  de  Mithraj,  F.  Lajard,  pi.  37. 

X  Lajard,  I.  c,  pi.  25,  lig.  6. 

§  Micali,  I  c,  pi.  24. 

1  Rawlinson,  Anc.  Mon,,  I.  c,  til,  334. 

%  Layard,  /.  e, 


Fig.  43.  (*) 


Fig.  44.  (f) 


LIFE-FORM   IN   ART. 

Fig.  45.  (t) 


29 


Fig.  46.  (g) 


Fig.  47. 


Fig.  48.  (t) 


Fig.  49.  (**) 


^ 


^he  transition  is  from  hair-tuft  43  to  Fig.  46,  and  from  that  to  the  horn  of 
nnicorn-Iike  figures,  Fig.  47  to  49. 

The  Oreek  Lion-Head.  It  is  very  evident  from  the  above  groupings  of  lion- 
heads,  both  full-faced  and  profile,  that  it  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  select  any  one 
head  from  the  forms  of  a  given  art-fauna  and  proclaim  for  it  representative  features. 
Thorwaldsen,  we  are  informed  by  his  biographer,  M.  Theile,  in  modeling  the  lion- 
head  for  the  Lucerne  monument,  carefully  studied  the  antique  form  and  the  modern 
styles   derived  thence.     (Fig.    50.)     In  another  design  of    the  same  animal   he  as 


*  Lajard.  I.  c,  pi.  37. 
f  Lajard,  I.  c. ,  pi.  19. 

4  Flandin  et  Coste,  Voyage  eu  Perse,  Paris,  1844,  pi.  G9. 
§  An.  Mon.,  Rawlinson. 
I  Lajard,  L  c,  pi.  43. 
•[  Lajard,  I  c,  pi.  1?. 
**  Inghrami,  I.  c,  II,  pi.  138. 


30 


AK   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


Fig..  50.  (*) 


Fig.  51.  (+) 


Thorwaldsen's  lion,  after  the  antique. 


Thorwaldsen's  lion  frorii  nature. 


carefully  studied  the  natural  model.  (Fig.  51.)  These  two  heads,  therefore,  are 
very  fair  examples  of  a  conventionalized  and  natural  art-form.  The  distinctions  pre- 
sented in  the  two  figures  are  so  great  that  comment  is  unncessary.  We  allude  to 
the  subject  to  contrast  Thorwaldsen's  conception  of  the  antique  head  with  that  of 
Ruskin's.     (Fig.  52.) 


Fig.  52.  (t) 


Fig.  53.  (g) 


Fig.  54.  (1) 


Modern  Lion-head. 


Lion-head,  after  Caylus. 


Lion-head,  after  Hamilton. 


This  critic  claims  for  Fig.  52  (to  condemn  it),  that  it  represents  a  modern  conven- 
tionalized lion-head  treated  after  the  Greek  method.  It  surely  belongs  to  the  variety 
of  the  lion  without  muzzle  lines  which  is  not  the  typical  Greek  head,  but  rather  an 
aberrant  expression  not  often  seen  (Fig.  53),  and  is  best  marked  on  the  vases 
— the  source  perhaps  of  the  "  reconstruction,"  criticised  by  Mr.  Ruskin. 


The  Palm-Tree. 

Section  II.     The  Pahyi-Tvee.     The  palm-tree  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
figures   in   the  art  of  Western  Asia,  and  the  countries  bordering  upon  the  Modi- 

*  Thorwaldsen  and  his  works,  edited  by  J.  M.  Theile,  Trans,  by  Sindling,  N.  Y.,  1809,  II,  pi.  108. 

flbid,  II,  pi.  153. 

I  Lectures  on  Art  and  Painting,  John  Ruskin,  1854,  pi.  11,  fig.  18. 

§Recueil  d'Antiq.  Egyptienne,  Estrusques,  Greques,  et.  Roniaines,  Caylus,  Pai"is,  1761-67,  I,  pi.  56. 

fl  Hamilton,  Sir  W.     A  collection  of  Etruscan,  (ireek  and  Roman  Antiquities,  London,  1797. 


LTPE-FORM   IN    ART 


3i 


terranean  Sea.     Among-  the  variants  we  have  ventnred  to  assign  to  this  origin,  there 
are  at  least  six,  which  at  first  sight  have  no  connection  with  one  another : 


Ficr.  55. 


fe  i^ 


A.  (*)      B.  (t)      C.  (t)      D.  (§) 


E.  (1) 


(Fb 


F.  (1) 


(A)  The  Sacred  Tree  of  Assyria. 

The  first  is  seen  npon  the  head-dress  of  Babylonian  figures,  and  would  appear 
from  the  following  sequence  to  be  a  miniature  representation  of  the.  Assyrian  Sacred 
Tree. 


Fig.  56.  (**) 


Fig.  57.  (It) 


Fig  58.  at) 


Fig.  59.  (§§) 


(B.)  Tlie  Palm-Tree  proper. 

The  second  is  a  figure  of  the  entire  tree  found  upon  a  cylinder  and  securing  for 
us  through  two  variants,  an  origin  in  the  conventional  palm  of  Persia. 

*  From  dress  of  Babylonian  king,  Rawlinson,  Five  An.  Monarchies,  III,  400. 

f  From  Babylonian  cylinder,  Sabaean  Researches,  John  Landseer,  Lond.  1823. 

^  Egyptian  liiei-oglyphic  "  Bunch  of  Dates,"  Bunsen,  I,  531.     This  figure  has  not  been  faithfully  rendered.     In 
the  main  features,  however,  it  is  correct. 

§  Persian  figure  upon  coin.     Wilson,  Antiquities  and  Coins  of  Afghanistan,  pi.   15,  f.  23.     The  central  shaft 
should  unite  all  the  transverse  pieces.     Prof.  Lesley  believes  this  to  be  of  Egyptian  origin. 

I  Greek  honeysuckle  oi'nament.     Hope's  Ancient  Costumes,  I,  72. 

T[  Ornament  upon  Etruscan  tablet.     Dennis,  Etruria,  I,  52. 

**-tt  Same  as  fig.  1,  from  lower  border  of  the  king's  dress. 

:j:|  From  Layard,  I.  c,  Rawlinson,  ibid.,  II,  235. 

|§  The  Assyrian  Sacred  Tree,  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  II,  233. 


32 


AN    ANAT/VSrS    OF    THE 


O^ 


(C.)  The  "Bunch  of  Dates." 

^Ia    The  third  bears  in  many  respects  resemblance  to  the  above  figures.     It,  how- 
"^  ever,  is  from  an  Egyptian  source.     It  stands  alone ;  no  forms  intervening  be- 
tween it  and  the  MesojDotamian  model  aid  us  in  its  identification.     Chronology 
here  comes  to  our  assistance.     It  is  described  by  Bunsen  as  the  bunch  of  dates. 

(D.)  The  Greco-Persian  Pahii. 

In  the  fourth,  found  upon  a  Persian  tomb,  we  have  an  ultimate  which  may  have 
originated  in  the  transverse  lines  of  Fig.  61.  Development  of  this  feature  of  the 
palm-tree  illustration  is  conspicuously  seen  in  Fig.  64 ;    also  of  a  Persian  source. 

Fig.  65.  (1) 


Fig.  03.  (§) 


Fig.  C4.  (I) 


acquaintance  with  which  introduces  us  to  the  elaborate  and  characteristic  oniament 
of  ancient  Persia,  Fig.  65,  where  the  model  is  much  disguised  by  Greek  accessories. 
It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  this  development,  based  as  it  is  upon  the  acanthus  leaf 

*  Same  as  B.  Fig.  55  (enlarged). 

t  Persian  palm-tree.     Rawlinson,  ibid.,  Ill,  342.     See  also  Rawlinson  I,  433. 

:}: Persian  palm-tree.     Rawlinson,  ibid.,  IV,  322. 

§  Wilson,  I.  c. 

I  From  Persian  ornamentation.    Travels  in  Persia,  Porter. 

1  Ibid.,  pi.  62.     For  the  sake  of  convenience,  but  one  half  (the  left)  of  this  symmetrical  design  has  been  figured. 


LTFE-FOKM   IN   ART. 


33 


and  bud,  is  here  engrafted  upon  a  purely  Eastern  stock,  and  yet  preserving  a  curious 
mimetic  relationship  with  the  florid  leaf  and  vine  design  so  common  in  our  own 
decorations,  and  which,  as  is  well  known,  is  almost  exclusively  of  acanthian  origin* 

The  remaining  ultimates,  fftli  and  sixth,  find  their  i-espective  models  as  pcn^- 
tions  only  of  the  conventionalized  palm.  Thus  the  objects  of  Fig.  65  are  derivative 
of  the  foliage  of  the  Assyrian  palm,  while  those  from  Q^  to  73  inclusive  are  obtained 
from  the  so-called  "  ram's  horn  "  of  the  Assyrian  Sacred  Tree. 

(E.)   The  "Honeysuckle." 
Fi<r.   6G. 


(*) 


(t) 


(t) 


(§) 


n,  ti'an.sverse  bands  ;        b,  b,   ''ram's  horn  ;"        c,  rays  ; 


d,  base  of  i-ays. 


The  first  four  of  these  outlines  are  examples  of  the  honeysuckle  ornament  which 
is  so  largely  represented  upon  articles  of  Greek  workmanship,  and  from  these  copied 
into  later  European  art.  ^o  one  design  is  more  frequently  seen.  Under  many 
graceful  modifications  we  meet  with  it  over  our  door-ways  and  upon  the  cornices  of 
our  dwellings  and  public  buildings.  It  enters  into  our  patterns  of  woven  stuffs  and 
wall  papers.  It  is  well  nigh  the  universal  basis  for  symmetrical  design.  One  of  the 
most  striking  of  its  modifications  is  the  shell  and  acorn  ornament  abundantly  used  by 
Michel  Angelo,  on  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome. 

We  are  indebted  to  Layard-"''  for  our  knowledge  of  the  influence  exerted  upon 
Greek  design  by  the  Assyrian  monuments.  According  to  this  writer,  the  "  similarity 
between  the  Assyrian  and  Greek  ornament  is  not  accidental.  *  *  *  It  seems  to  be 
proved  beyond  a  question,  by  the  alternation  of  the  lotus  or  tulip, ff  whatever  this 
flower  may  be,  with  the  honeysuckle.  *  *  *  The  same  ornament  occurs  in  India  on 
a  lath  erected  by  Asoka,  at  Allahabad  (about  B.  C.  250) ;  but  whether  introduced 
by  the  Greeks — which,  from  the  date  of  the  erection  of  the  monument,  shortly  aftei- 
the  Macedonian  invasion,  is  not  imj^robable — or  whether  derived  from  another  source, 
I  cannot  venture  to  decide." 


♦Ornament  on  cuirass,  Hope's  Anc.  Cost.,  I,  pi.  73. 
t  Ibid.,  I,  pi.  75. 

X  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  II,  231. 
§Ibid.,  II,  231. 


I  Layard,  from  Allahabad.     I.  c,  332 

^Rawlinson,  l.  c. 

**  Layard,  l.  c,  II,  333. 

If  We  have  ventured  to  call  this  caliciform. 


34 


AN   ANALYSIS   OF   THK 


(F.)  The  ^''  Ram^s  Homy  While  found  together  with  much  that  is  of  Greek 
origin  in  Etruria,  the  honeysuckle  variant  of  the  palm  is  less  frequently  determined 
than  that  of  the  figure  of  the  ram's  horn.  The  point  of  greatest  constancy  here 
presented  is  the  transverse  band  uniting  a  pair  of  horns  which  are  so  arranged  that 
their  convexities  are  opposed.  In  the  model  ^  Fig.  ^^^  this  is  conspicuous.  In  Figure 
69  a  single  band  is  seen,  as  is  also  the  case  in  the  simple  forms,  Figures  67  and  ^'^. 
The  upper  and  lower  portions  of  the  horn-like  figures  are  given  in  the  last  two  of 
these  ;  but  the  upper  half  of  the  design  is  absent  in  Figure  67. 

Fig.  67.  (*)  Fig.  68.  (+)  Fig.  69.  (t)  Fig.  70.  (§)  Fig.  71.  (||) 


Fi<r.  72.  (11) 


Fig.  73.  (**) 


u  ^,      3 


Fig.  75.  {XX) 


The  lettering  of  Figs.  68  to  75  to  be  same  as  ^  Fig.  66. 
*  Dennis,  Etruria,  I,  52. 
f  Dennis,  Etruria,  I,  52. 
X  Dennis,  Etruria,  1,  53. 
§  Micali,  I.  c,  pi.  73. 
I  Micali,  L  c,  pi.  23. 

T[  From  ornament  found  at  Praeneste.    R.  Garrucci,  Archseologia,  XLI,  pi.  10,  206. 
**  Bone  spoon  found  in  Isis  tomb.      Dennis,  Etruria,  I,  424. 

ft  Ornament  upon  the  head-dress  of  lion,  found  at  Praeneste.  R.  Garrucci,  Arclueologia,  LXI,  pi.  5,  206. 
XX  Ibid.,  with  Fig.  31. 


LIFE-FORM    IN   ART.  35 

Fig.    76. 


Figure  76  might  also  represent  the  lower  half  of  either  this  (Fig.  70)  or  the  one 
following,  Figure  71.  But  here  we  are  forced  to  remember  the  shape  of  the  calici- 
form  design  found  at  Allahabad,  Fig.  77,  more    particularly   since  no    connecting 


band  is  seen  in  Figure  70. 

Fig.  77. 


"Were  the  Asiatic  model  ever  represented  as  duplicated  above  and  below  a  given  plane, 
which  would  thus  serve  as  a  base  for  both,  we  would  feel  inclined  to  refer  Figure  70 
to  such.  The  absence  of  this  band  is  in  our  judgment  sufficient  to  prevent  such 
reference.  Were  further  defence  of  the  position  we  have  taken  necessary,  we  could 
refer  to  the  bisected  ram's  horn  at  base  of  Figure  58,  which  is  almost  an  exact 
inverted  counterpart  of  ultimate  F.  Fig.  Ij5. 

We  conceive  that  the  continuous  ornament  presenting  the  palm-tree  foliage,  so 
frequently  met  with  in  the  remains  at  Nineveh,  (Fig.  78,)  is  composed  of  the  pro- 
duced crescents  of  the  ram's-horn  figure  turned  upward  from  the  vertical  to  a  more 
horizontal  position,  while  the  upper  of  the  three  bands  is  alone  retained. 

Fig.  78. 


In  another  variety  of  this  ornament  found  at  the  same  locality,  we  find  that  the 
fruit  branches  have  been  selected  to  give  emphasis  to  the  design.      Thus  Figure  79 


is  complete  without  the  ram's  horn  appearing  in  any  guise. 

Now   it  is  highly  probable,  judging  from  the  designs  here  selected,  that  the 
Greeks   choose   for   their    continuous  oi-namentation  (Fig    80)  the  latter  of  these, 


36  AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

viz.,  the  fruit  branches,  while  the  Etruscans  favored  the  former,  viz.,  the  ram's  horn. 
(See  especially  Figs.  72  and  73.)  In  the  first  of  these  the  larger  crescents  are  appa- 
rently derived  from  an  Asiatic  source,  while  the  smaller  would  claim  for  themselves 
a  Greek  origin. 

Fiff.   80. 


Section  III.  The  Serpent.  We  have  abundant  evidence  that  the  serpent 
is  an  universal  object  of  design  with  rude  people,  and  a  frequent  one  with  advanced 
races.  For  consideration  of  this  interesting  subject  we  would  refer  the  reader  to  the 
works  mentioned  below.*  The  radicals  we  have  selected  have  been  met  with  among 
the  monuments  of  Central  America  and  Peru.  The  motive  which  we  assign  to  the 
artists  of  these  countries  for  reproducing  so  frequently  the  ophidian  shapes  is  easily 
found  in  their  religion.  Prescottf  tells  us  that  the  serpent  was  an  emblem  common 
in  sacred  sculpture  in  Anahuac.  The  image  of  one  of  their  deities  was  remarkable 
for  the  "huge  folds  of  a  serpent,  consisting  of  pearls  and  precious  stones  which 
coiled  round  his  waist."  In  the  Aztec  calendar  the  serpent  typified  time.J  The  most 
common  representation  of  Quetzalcoatl  was  that  of  the  serpent. 

In  Peru,  in  addition  to  the  figure  of  the  serpent  being  associated  with 
images  of  the  human  form  as  attributes,§  it  was  at  times  of  votive  significance. 
When  unable  to  procure  an  animal  for  sacrifice,  such  for  example  as  the  puma  or 
serpent,  the  Peruvians  offered  a  golden  or  silver  image  of  the  same.|| 

We  have  in  these  statements  suflftcient  reason  for  attempting  to  bring  into  a 
series  of  derivatives  a  few  outlines  which  we  may  term  the  radicals  of  the  profile 
serpent-head. 

We  find  its  variants  scattered  over  tropical  America  in  isolated  inscriptions,  in 
the  florid  picture-records,  in  the  yet  more  obscure  so-called  hierogh^phic  system,  as 
well  as  discerned  among  the  confusing  elaboration  of  carved  images. 

*The  Serpent  Symbol,  etc.,  E.  G.  Squier,  New  York,  1851  ;  Myths  of  the  New  World,  Brinton,  I.  c;  Tree  and 
Serpent  Worship,  etc.,  Jas.  Ferguson,  Lond.,  1868.     Many  other  authorities  might  be  quoted  in  this  connection, 
■f  Conquest  of  Mexico,  II,  142. 
X  Ibid.,  I,  93. 

§  Antiquities  of  Peini,  Rievero,  107. 
I  Conquest  of  Peru,  Prescott,  I,  523. 


LIFE    FOKM    IN    AKT. 


37 


The  Kadicals  of  the  Profile  Sekpent-head. 

Fifj.    81. 


^^       9.        ^ 


G== 


^.9- 


S  e^  w  ^ 


A.  (*)      B.  (f)     C.  (t)       D.(§) 


F.  a)  G.(* 


I.  (+f) 


Radicals  of  the  Serpent-jaw  from  Aztec  and  Incarian  sources. 

Among  these  nine  ilustrations  which  we  have  selected  from  the  large 
number  apparently  of  the  same  significance,  we  detect  considerable  dissimilarity. 
Yet  they  possess  the  common  feature  of  presenting  two  more  or  less  curved  lines 
joined  at  an  angle.  Each  of  the  outlines  could  be  written  without  the  pen  leaving 
the  paper.  The  angle  is  the  result  of  a  union  between  a  vertically  inclined  member  to 
one  nearly  horizontal.  We  will  endeavor  to  show  (in  absence  of  a  chronology,  or 
the  nomenclature  of  the  artists  themselves)  that  these  signs  represent  the  two  main 
lines  of  the  open  jaw  of  the  serpent-head  seen  in  profile,  and  that  they  are  as  near 
letter-types,  as  it  is  impossible  to  be  with  figures  derived  from  a  protean  model.  J  J 


Fig.  82.  (§i^)  Fig.  83.  (Ill) 


Fig.  84.  (11) 


Fig.  85.  (***) 


Fig.  8G.  (ttt) 


(^ 


*  Stephens,  J.  8.,  Yucatan,  etc.,  1843. 

f  Nicaragua,  its  People,  Scenery,  Monuments,  etc.,  E.  G.  Squier,  New  York,  1852,  II,  66. 

t  Ibid.,  1852,  II,  66. 

§Ibid.,  II,  66. 

|-tt  From  the  Musca  Alphabet,  Humboldt,  Vue  de  Cordilleras. 

tt  Figure  A  of  the  above  series  although  distinctive  it  is  thought  of  the  Aztec  ophidian  profile,  is  a  natural  curve 
and  is  seen  elsewhere,  in  the  art  of  various  people,  when  it  is  desired  to  represent  the  open  mouth  of  an  animal.      We 
find  the  same  horizontal  line  representing  the  lower  jaw  joined  to  a  curved  upper  jaw  (the  convexity  of  the  curve 
standing  for  the  fold  of  the  upper  lip  overlying  the  tooth-line  of  the  upper  jaw)  in  Europe  and  Asia.     See  ArchsBologL-) 
XLII,  pi.  17,  312,  for  the  head  of  a  panther  or  lion  of  the  Saxon  period. 

§§  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America  and  Yucatan.    Stevens,  I,  1843,  309. 

II  Kingsboi'Ough  Coll.  (Dresden  codex,  3d  column.) 

11  Kingsboi'ough  Coll.  (Dupaix.) 

***From  photograph  of  Palencquc  cross  ;  see  also  Stephens,  I.  c,  II,  1842,  345. 

fj-f-  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Borgian  Codex.) 


38 


Fig-.  87.  (*) 


AK    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

Fi-.  88.  (+) 


Fig.  89.  (t) 


Fig.  1)0.  (§) 


(Fig.  91.  (I) 


(Fig.  92.  (•:) 


Comparing  the  above  series  with  the  radicals  we  find  that  the  first  is  evidently 
intended  for  the  head  of  an  animal,  and  that  this  figure  gradually  assumes  a  more 
snake-like  expression  until,  in  Fig.  92,  we  see  an  indubitable  rattle  appendage.  That 
all  the  signs  of  Fig.  81  are  derived  "from  reduction  of  similar  figures  to  those 
just  given  must  of  course  be  probable  only.  In  our  judgment  it  forms  a  probability 
that  lacks  but  one  degree  of  proof,  namely,  that  derived  from  a  fixed  chronological 
status.     This  of  course  cannot  be  furnished. 

Fig.  93.  (**)  Fig.  94.   (ft) 


*  Kingsborougli  Coll.  (Borgian  Codex.)  Q) 

\  Kingsborougli  Coll.  (  Borgian  Codex. ) 

I  Kingsborougli  Coll.  (Borgian  Codex.) 

§  Voy.  Pittor.  et  Archseol.  dans  la  Province  d' Yucatan,  etc.     Waldeck,  Paris,  1888,  pi.  13. 

I  From  photograph  of  ruins  at  Monjas,  Uxmal. 

•[  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex,  Col.  57). 

**  Six  Months  Residence  and  Travel  in  Mexico.     W.  Bullock,  London,  1834,  pi.  13. 

■ItSquier,  Nicaragua,  l.  c,  53  (from  Zipatero). 

(')  In  proof  of  the  Crotalian  significance  of  this  form  we  add  the  caudal  appendage  :  <^5^[^?T?"~" 


LIFE-FORM   IN    AKT. 


39 


In  Figures  93  and  94  (examples  of  a  common  variety  in  Aztec  remains),  we 
see  the  curves  of  the  open  jaw  traced  upon  the  side  of  a  solid  mass.  There  can  be 
no  reasonable  objection  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  a  close  resemblance  between 
Figure  93  of  these  series  and  the  second  of  the  radicals  marked  E,  or  between  radical 
D  and  Fig.  94 

It  is  also  more  than  suggestive  that  the  apparently  arbitrary  design  and  others 

Fig.    95. 


found  among  an  embarrassing  fullness  of  illustration  in  the  Borgian  Codex  (Fig. 
95),  represents  the  profile  head  of  the  serpent  with  the  mouth  partially  closed.  And 
may  not  the  following  figures  have  been  suggested  to  a  people  who  have  been  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  the  profile  lines  already  given? 


Fig.  93.  (*) 


Fig.  97.  (t) 


Fig.  98.  (t) 


Fig.  99.  (I) 


Fig.  100.  (1) 


y^ 


Fig.  101. 


Symmetrical  Snake  Ornament,  from  Squier's  Ancient  Mon.  of  Kortli  America, 
a,  lower  jaw  ;  b,  upper  jaw  ;  c,  eye  ;  d,  rattle. 

♦  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Tellerian  Codex.) 

t  From  portion  of  elaborate  full-faced  human  head,  Stephens,  I,  1843,  170. 

X  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Borgian  Codex,)  p.  7  (human  hand). 

§  Stephens,  I.  c,  I,  171  (Architectural  Ornament). 

1  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Borgian  Codex),  p.  12  (pattern  along  a  border). 

6 


40 


AX   AXALTSIS    OF    THE 


Another  serpentine   form  is  seen  to  be  the  radical  of  the  following  sequence, 


Fio-.    102. 


■R     ig? 


(*)        (+)       (t)      (§)       (i)  (1) 

which  may  be  called  the  series  of  the  bound  serpent.  A  third  form  belonging  to  the 
same  group  may  possibly  be  indicated  in  the  coiled  serpent,  which  leads  us  to  the 
figure  found  by  Squier  (Fig.  104)  on  a  rock  in  IS^icaragua,* 

Fig.  104.  (ft) 


Fijr.  103.  (**) 


The  Man. 

Section^  IV.  (A.)  The  Head.  If  among  the  forms  capable  of  but  a  few 
expressions  we  find  such  variety,  we  may  expect  to  meet  in  the  human  face  with 
its  increased  motility  a  yet  larger  number.  To  understand  their  analyses,  it  is 
necessary  to  make  ourselves  familiar  with  the  structures  entering  into  the  human 
face.  The  "  countenance  "  of  popular  language  answers  to  the  facial  region  of  the 
anatomist.  The  skull  gives  the  main  boundaries  of  this  region,  as  well  as  valuable 
hints  for  its  subdivision.  It  is  clothed  with  muscles,  which,  surrounding  to  move  the 
eyelids,  nostrils  and  mouth,  are  conveniently  arranged  into  the  palpebral,  nasal  and 
oral  groups.  The  main  acts  of  expression  pertain  to  the  first  and  last  of  these ;  for 
the  nasal  group  is  composed  of  insignificant  muscles  both  in  form  and  function.  ISTow 
it  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  the   action  of  the  palpebral  muscles  is  one   almost  in 

*  Bartlett,  I,  196.    (From  a  rock  carvin<T  in  the  Gila  region.)  - 

f  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 
X  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 
§  Troano  Manuscript. 
II  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex,  Col.  28.) 
1[  Troano  Manuscript. 

**  Senate  Ex.  Doc,  1st  series,  31st  Congress,  No.  64,  pi.  35.  (Reconnoisance  in  New  Mexico,  Te>.as,  dc). 
Report  of  Lt.  Simpson. 

tt  Squier's  Nicaragxia,  I.  c,  T,  oppasite  p.  406. 


IJFE-FOKM   IN    AKT. 


41 


common  with  the  muscles  of  the  forehead.  When  the  latter  muscles  contract  the 
brows  are  raised,  and  when  the  palpebral  muscles  act,  the  brows  descend  and  move 
toward  the  middle  line  of  the  face.  This  act,  the  result  of  the  depression  and 
adduction  of  the  brows,  gives  a  severe  expression  to  the  countenance,^ — a  noble  one 
Avhen  moderately  pronounced,  and  to  this  end  employed  in  the  Jove-like  heads  of 
Greek  art*  (Fig.  105) ;  but  when  exaggerated,  leads  to  the  grotesque,  an  advantage 
not  neglected  in  many  ancient  ornaments  and  the  tragic  masks  (Fig.  106). 


FiL'.  ion. 


Fii--.  106. 


(^) 


-4U 


Head  of  Apollo  Belvidere. 


Head  from  late  Roman  ornament,  (f) 


The  muscles  about  the  mouth  tend  chiefly  to  draw  the  oral  angle  from  the 
median  line  ;  hence  any  change,  no  matter  how  small  at  the  angle,  materially  modifies 
the  expression.  "  Give  me  a  mouth,"  says  Thackeray,J  "  with  no  special  expression, 
and  pop  a  dash  of  carmine  at  each  extremity,  and  there  are  lips  smiling."  The  inner 
extremity  of  the  brow  and  the  angle  of  the  mouth  may  be  called  the  centres  of  ex- 
pression. The  main  face  variants,  in  which  these  centres  of  motility  have  been 
recognized,  are  seen  grouping  themselves  into  the  frowning  set  and  the  leering  set, 
either  with  the  mouth  closed  and  the  angles  slightly  elevated,  forming  "  the  eternal 
rictus"  of  the  archaic  "Greek"  head  (Fig.  107),  or  the  lips  parted  and  the  teeth 
displayed,  or  the  lower  jaw  depressed,  with  the  tongue  protruded.  The  so-called 
grotesques  of  Leonardo  da  Yinci  (Fig.  108),  and  Durer  (Fig.  109),  appear  to  us  to 
be  experiments  in  facial  motility,  both  in  myology  and  general  proportion.  They  are 
mere  curiosities  in  construction.     It  is  interesting  to  observe  from  the  point  of  view 

*  Wincklemann,  I.  c,  II,  80. 
+  Mus.  Borbonico,  XI,  tab.  28. 
X  Roundabout  Papers,  37.5. 


42 


AN"   ANALYSIS    ()F    THP: 

Fiff.  107. 


Pluunician  Head  from  Cyprus.     Dc  Ccsnola.  (*) 

we  are  now  erecting,  viz.,  the  relations  between  an  inventive  and  an  imitative  art, 
how  exceedingly  different  these  scholastic  studies  are  fj-om  conventional  art-types. 


Fi<r.  108. 


Fiir.  109. 


Grotesque  from  Leonardo,  (f )  Grotesque  from  Durer.  (|) 

The  lines  of  the  inferior  border  of  the  malar  bone  also  serve  as  the  basis  of  a  series 
of  variants  both  in  Egyptian  and  Aztec  art.  In  addition  to  these,  we  have  in  Aztec 
art  the  full-faced  skull  as  a  distinct  model  fi-om  that  of  the  countenance. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  the  chief  variants  of  the  full-faced  countenance 
are  as  follows  : 

The  brow  lines  ;  the  mouth  lines,  and  the  malar  or  transverse  facial  lines.§ 

*  Harper's  Mag.,  Vol.  XLV,  195. 

+  From  photograph. 

X  Four  Books,  etc.,  on  Art  Anatomy,  Book  III,  85.    Trans,  m  French,  1557. 

§  Tattooing.  That  the  object  of  tattooing  is  to  represent  clothing  is  an  idea  commonly  believed.  That  ^e 
objects  employed  for  this  purpose  should  have  been  patterns  we  can  readily  conceive.  We  have  endeavored  in  vain  to 
detect  a  relationship  between  the  lines  of  tattooed  skin  and  the  nomial  folds  and  depressions  of  the  face.  The  nearest 
approach  to  it  known  to  us,  is  the  head  of  the  Feejian,  figured  in  Owen's  Grammar  of  Ornament,  in  which  a  symmetry 
of  ornamentation  has  been  preserved,  suggesting  the  muscular  structure  of  the  face.  But  this  is  evidently  a  coincidence ; 
for  had  natural  lines  been  copied  by  the  artist,  the  wrinkles  would  have  appeai'ed  rather  than  the  unrevealed  fleshy 
masses  beneath  the  skin.  Now  if  this  were  the  case  the  wrinkles  would  be  placed  transversely  to  the  line  of  action  of 
many  muscles.  We  accept  with  some  reservation,  the  statement  of  Lubbock  (I.  c),  that  the  inhabitants  of  Formosa 
"impress  on  their  skin  various  figures  of  trees,  flowers  and  animals." 


lill'E-rOliM    IN   ART. 


43 


We  i)ropose  to  trace  in  the  following  ordei-  a  few  of  the  variants  of  the  face. 
Many  of  them  that  relate  to  expression  are  found  in  the  best  examples  of  Greek  and 
Koman  art,  as  well  as  in  a  few  specimens  of  Aztec  carving. 

(fl.)  THE  FULL-FACE. 

(1.)  The  Gorgoneion.  The  radical  of  this  series  would  ap2:>ear  to  have  no 
connection  with  the  figures  placed  after  it ;  yet  we  have  ventured  to  hold  as 
the  ultimate  the  figure  from  which  it  is  the  probable  abridgment, — the  head  of 
Phthah.  In  the  absence  of  a  corroborating  prompter  in  history,  these  figures  would 
teach  us  that  the  Gorgoneion  was  common  to  Egypt,  Greece  and  Etruria.  The 
symmetrical  curved  ornament  at  the  lower  portion  of  Figures  110-112,  and  the  head- 
dress of  Figure  113,  are  derived  from  the  skin  of  the  head  and  fore-feet  of  the  lion. 
Can  we  go  farther  and  trace  from  these  derivatives  the  tongue-protruding  heads  of 
the  Gothic  style,  or  the  Buddhistic  Sinhas  ?  It  is  difficult  to  answer  these  questions 
satisfactorily. in  the  absence  of  all  connecting  links.  More  especially  since  we  have 
no  proof  that  they  may  not  have  originated  in  other  countries.  The  New  Zea- 
lander*  carves  a  head  with  a  lolling  tongue  on  his  temple  column ;  the  Azfecsf 
have  repeated  the  same  figure  in  stone.     See  also  Fig.  126. 


Fig.  110.  {%) 


Fig.  111.  (g) 


Fig.  113.  (1) 


Etruscan. 

Fig.  114.  (**) 


Gicek. 


Etruscan.  Greek. 

*  Natural  History  of  Man,  Wood,  II,  180. 

t  Waldeck,  I.  c.  ;  Squier,  I.  c,  I,  204  and  313  ;  figure  in  centre  of  Mexican  Zodiac. 
t  Micali,  I  c,  pi.  46,  Fig.  24.  §  Micali,  L  c,  pi.  102,  Fig.  10.  H  Hamilton,  Vases,  l.  c,  III,  60. 

T  Micali,  I.  c,  pi.  23.  **  Dennis,  Etruria,  l.  c,  II,  244.      +t  Hope's  Ancient  Costumes,  225. 

tt  Handbook  of  Archaeology,  Westropp,  120.     The  tongue  has  been  by  an  oversight  omitted. 
g§  Hirt.  Trans.  Berl.  Acad.,  1821,  115. 


Egyptian  (Phthah). 


44 


AX    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  Gorgoneion  is  very  ancient.  "We  snspect  that 
the  remarkable  head  from  N^ebbi  Yiinas  (Fig.  118),  may  have  had  an  origin  from  the 
Egyptian  Phthah,  the  tongue  being  the  only  essential  feature  absent.  A  comparison 
of  the  Greek  face  (Fig.  112)  with  that  of  the  Assyrian  relic,  points  strongly 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  has  been  wrought  under  the  same  influence  that  gave  shape 
to  the  others ;  but  the  absence  of  the  protruding  tongue  prevents  us  from  giving  it 
a  place  in  the  series. 

Fig.  118.   (*) 


Assyrian, 

(2.)   The  Transverse  Facial  Z/ine.     With  regard  to  the  series  of  the  transverse 
facial  line  we  present  the  following : 

Types  of  Full-faced  Human  Head,  with  Transverse  Facial  Lines. 
Fig.  119.  (t)  Fig.  120.  (t)  Fig.  121.  (§) 


Etruscan, 


Etruscan. 
From  Mediterranean  desisrn. 


Egyptian. 


*  Layard,  I.  c,  pi.  95,  Fig.  3  and  4.     The  treatment  of  the  eye  by  numbers  of  concentric  lines  and  an  exag- 
gerated internal  canthus,  is  notably  like  the  method  of  drawing  this  organ  on  Greek  vessels. 

t  Hope's  Ant.  Cost,  (from  Caylus,  VI,  I,  44,)     The  repetition  of  the  malar  line  is  here  conspicuous,  see  p,  290 
of  this  memoir. 

JMicaU,  I.  c,  pi.  41,  Fig.  4, 

§  Birch,  l.  c,  in  British  Museum. 


LTFE-FOKM   IN   ART. 


45 


Fig.  123.   (*) 


Fig.  123.  (t) 


Fig.  124.    (t) 


Fig.  125.  (§) 


From  Aztec  design. 

The  radical-like  head  (Fig.  119)  succeeds  to  the  fantastic  head  (Fig.  120),  and 
both  would  appear  to  be  derivatives  of  the  Egyptian  head  (Fig.  121).  The  Aztec 
architectural  (glyptic)  radical  (Fig.  122)  is  the  ultimate  abridgment  of  the  full-faced 
human  skull  of  which  Fig.  125  is  the  fullest  development.  There  remains  no  doubt 
that  in  this  series  the  line  of  the  lower  border  of  the  malar  bones  has  been  the  line 
characterizing  the  variants  of  the  Aztec  skull  as  a  similar  line  will  describe  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  the  Egypto-Etruscan  heads. 

(»5.)  Tlie  Radical  of  the  Full-face.  But  it  is  in  the  lower  stages  of  art  where  we 
must  seek  for  the  best  examples  of  face  radicals.  Large  number  of  primal  forms  are 
found  etched  upon  rocks,  and  have  never  passed  beyond  rude  attempts  at  realism. 
Of  these  we  do  not  now  speak.  But  rather  of  the  most  persistent  lines  seen  in  an 
abridgment  of  a  more  elaborate  model,  itself  an  ultimate  of  unknown  transitions 
from  the  primal  shape.  Thus  in  the  comparatively  modern  attempt  to  depict  the 
human  countenance  in  metal,  we  may  have  face  radicals  rapidly  eliminated. 


f 


The  outline  here  presented  we  claim  to  be  the  most  constant  form  in  the  follow 
ing  sequence  of  figures  obtained  from  Celtic  metal  ornamentation  (Fig.  12G). 


*  Views  of  An.  Mon.  in  Central  America,  etc.,  1844.     F.  Catherwood,  pi.  9. 

t  Ibid.,  pi.  9. 

X  Kingsboroiigh  Coll.  (Dupaix.) 

§  Stephens,  I,  c.  (Capan),  I,  135,  1841.     Tlie  author  supposes  this  to  be  a  monkey's  skull. 


46 


AN    ANALYSTS   OF    THE 


Fiir.  120. 


(*) 


(t) 


(t)  (§)  (II)  (1)  (**) 

F«ll-frc3  Human  Face,  from  Celtic  design  in  metal. 


Wii  have  in  such  an  arrangement  the  united  brows  forming  the  u]:)per  member  of 
the  radical,  the  vertical  member  of  which  is  the  nose. 


4= 


In  the  same  manner  we  may  accept  the  outline  of  the  above  figure  as  one  of  the 
Buddhistic  face  radicals,  judging  from  the  following  series  of  figui-es  (Fig.  127),  from 
East  Indian  coins.  In  this  less  perfect  illustration,  the  brow  line  is  separated  from 
the  nose,  and  the  cruciform  outline  given  is  the  result  of  changes  in  the  nostrils. 

Can  it  be  doubted  that 


The  figures    6  ^    o  (t> 


are  all  nose  radicals,  as  well  as 


=f 


they  have  had  their  origin  in  the  same  natural  model  ?  Does  not  this  simple  contrast 
between  the  constant  brow  and  nose  radical  of  the  Saxon  series,  and  the  varying 
separation  of  the  brow  and  nose  lines  in  the  Indian  series,  as  well  as  the  variable 
shape  of  the  nose  in  the  latter  group,  indicate  widely  remote  tendencies  of  art-growth 
in  these  two  races  ? 

Fi<r.  127. 


b_pN 


(§§) 


(III!)  (TIF)  (***) 

Human  figures  of  East  Indian  design,  in  metal. 


(Iff) 


*From  a  fibula  found  at  Fairford,  C.  R.  Smith,  Archseologia,  XXXIV,  pi.  10,  82. 

t Pound  in  a  cemetery  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Period.     J.  Y.  Akerman,   Ibid.,  XXXVII,  pi.  3,  97. 

|-f  f  Same  as  *. 

XX  Figure  upon  a  fibula  found  in  Berkshire,  Ibid.,  XIX,  352. 

§§  Asiatic  Researches,  1832,  XVII,  pi.  4,  Fig.  89,  H.  H.  Wilson. 

II  Wilson's  Afghanistan,  pi.  25,  26. 

It  Ibid,  pi.  25,  26. 

***Ibid,  pl.25,26. 

tt+  Ibid,  pi.  24,  26. 


LIFE-FOKM   IX   ART. 


47 


In  looking-  through  the  radicals  of  the  full-faced  head  in  Aztec  art  and  the 
sources  tributary  to  it,  we  find  a  number  of  rudimentary  outlines,  many  of  which  have 
had  doubtless  strictly  limited  significances  attached  to  them.  The  majei'fty  of  these 
we  have  selected  from  the  Dresden  Codex, — so  remai'kable  among  Aztec  remains  for 
the  conciseness  of  outline,  and  I'clative  absence  of  non-essential  elements.  The  out- 
line as  seen  in  this  Codex  is  proposed  (+)  as  the  radical  of  the  front  view  of  the 
human  face.     It  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  Asian  radical  enclosed  in  a  circle. 

We  present  the  following  as  a  demonstration  : 

Fig.  128. 


^  c^ 


(t) 


(§) 


(II) 


Full-faced  skull  radicals  from  Aztec  design. 

May  we  not  assert,  assuming  the  coiTectness  of  the  above  sequence,  that  these  are 
but  varieties  of  the  full-faced  symbol  ? 

The  radicals  to  be  next  described  are  those  dependent  upon  the  union  of  others. 
These  are  comprehensive  types  and  are  of  unusual  interest. 

We  are  informed  by  Dr.  Brintonf  f  that  many  of  the  designs  of  the  American 
races  have  reference  to  the  cardinal  points.  We  hope  to  show  that  the  cardinal 
points  are  often  represented  by  four  fall  faces,  and  that  each  face  is  represented 
by  a  well-defined  radical.  It  might  be  expected  that  the  radical  already  given,  (+) 
would  be  the  basis  of  this  more  complex  design.  Such,  however,  does  not  appear 
from  the  sequence  here  given. 

*-||  Kingsbji-ougli  Coll.  (Dres.leu  Codex). 

**  Stephen,  Yucatan,  I,  Frontispiece  (Capan). 

%  Catherwood,  I.  c. 

H  Myths  of  the  New  Worhl,  /.  c. 


48 


AN  a:n^alysts  of  the 


In  the  Landa  {I.  c.)  alphabet  there  is  a  comprehensive  figure  xi^y  signify- 
ing "space."  In  the  Algonquin  Song  of  the  Creation*  there  is  seen  the  fol- 
lowing symbols :  1st.  <<'"^^^)>'  which  is  interpreted,  "  First  being,  Omnipotent ;" 
2d. 


o  Vo 


)    "  All  beings  are  friends."     Arranging  these  in  order,  we  have : 


Fig.  129. 


V     ) 


representing  the  radicals  of  the  same  composite  type. 

ISTow  Dupaix  figures  a  design  attractive  from  its  symmetry  (Fig.  130)  : 

Fig.  130.  (+) 


We  cannot  fail  to  recognize  here  a  figure  suggestive  of  the  cardinal  points,  and 
the  resemblance  borne  by  each  of  the  four  component  parts  to  Figure  131  is  so  strik- 


Fig.  131.  (t) 


ing  that  we  are  led  to  conclude  that  the  Fig.  130  is  a  composition,  resulting  from  the 
arbitrary  use  of  face-radicals,  alike  to  those  of  Fig.  131. 

This  point  having  been  gained  we  ai-e  encouraged  in  believing  that  the  radical 


*  Traditions  of  the  Algonquiiis  (pamphlet),  E.  G.  Squier. 
t Kings.  Coll.  (Dupaix.) 

i:Ibid.  (Dresden  Codex.)     Many  others  similar  to  this  could  be   given  from  Nortli    American    design.      See 
particularly  Dresden  Codex,  and  a  rock  near  the  Susquehanna  river,  Pennsylvania. 


LIFE-PORM   IN   ART. 


49 


may  be  significant  of  the  cardinal  jjoints,  and  to  have  a  history  something  like  the 
ensuing : 


Figs.  132. 


o 


MM 


(*) 


(.\)  (t)  (§)  Aberrant.  (|) 

Composites  suggesting  the  cardinal  points,  from  Aztec  design. 


These  are  by  no  means  rare  signs  in  the  Dresden  Codex. 

The  use  of  the  full-face  radical  as  the  head  of  the  human  figure,  as  seen  in  a 
column  of  the  Codex  (see  Fig.  133)  is  almost  conclusive  as  to  its  real  significance. 

Fig.  133.  iV 


We  thus  see  that  the  full-faced  Aztec  radical  may  be  either  a  Greek  cross  with- 
out eye  and  mouth  dots ;  the  latter,  without  the  former,  or  both,  or  with  the  presence 
of  the  cross  with  dots  placed  in  radii  from  its  re-entering  angles. 

In  illustration  of  the  architectural  radical  being  'the  result  of  a  process  different 
from  one  leading  to  a  hieratic  character,  we  present  two  representations  of  what  we 
have  interpreted  to  be  full-face  human  head  from  the  Aztec  temples : 


Fig.  134.  (**) 


Fig.  135.  (tt) 


Full-faced  human  countenance  in  stone,  from  Aztec  design. 

*  From  squatting  figure  of  a  man  in  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.)  f  Kings.  Coll.  (Dui>aix.) 

t  Ibid  (Dresden  Codex.)  §  Ibid.  |  Schoolcraft,  l.  e.  VI,  570. 

If  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.)  **  Catherwuod,  I.  e.        ft  Ibid   I.  c. 


50 


AX    ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


"We  give  here  an  example  (Fig.  136)  of  a  series  of  variants  in  pottery.  The  speci- 
mens were  obtained  at  San  Domingo,  by  Mr.  William  M.  Gabb,  late  geologist  to 
the  San  Domingo  Government.  The  originals  are  in  the  JS^ational  Muscimi  at 
Washington.  Our  drawings  were  kindly  made  by  Mr.  Gabb.  The  first  we  accept 
as  the  radical  of  a  full-faced  human  head,  and  proceed  as  follows : 


Fijr.  13G. 


Ceramic  variants  from  San  Domingo  design. 
ib.)  THE  PROFILE. 

(&.)  The  Profile.  The  profile  human  head  has  an  entirely  distinct  history  from 
the  full-faced.  We  see  some  races  very  fond  of  reproducmg  it,  as  for  example  the 
Egyptians  with  whom  the  front  view  in  drawings  was  phenomenally  rare.  The  Assyr- 
ians also  repeated  the  countenance  in  profile.  With  the  I^orth  American  Indians  the 
profile  is  looked  upon  with  contempt.  Father  Gamier  of  the  Huron  Mission,  in  writing 
home  for  supplies,  says  of  certain  pictures  he  needed,  "  they  must  be  full  face,  and 
they  must  look  directly  at  the  beholder."*  Mr.  Catlin  informs  us  that  the  Indians 
consider  a  profile  as  representing  but  "  half  a  man."  The  Aztecs  evidently  enter- 
tained very  difierent  notions  concernhig  the  profile,  and  we  find  a  fair  sprinkling  of 
its  variants  throughout  their  art.  In  mai'ked  contrast  to  the  Aztec  full-faced  radical 
the  profile  is  rarely  or  never  inverted  or  otherwise  changed  in  position.  As  in  the  case 
of  the  full-face  we  find  the  richest  sequence  of  profiles  in  the  Dresden  Codex. 

The  radical  (x)  is  here  presented,  and  the  probable  sequence  constructed  thus : 

*  Parkman,  Jesuits  in  Noiih  America. 


(*) 


(t) 


LIFE-POKM    IN    AKT. 

Fig.  137. 


(§) 


51 


it) 


(II) 


Human  Profiles  from  Aztec  design. 
Fi-.  13?. 


The  above  is  a  short  sei'ies  selected  from  the  Troano  manuscript. 

As  an  instance  of  the  difficulty  of  the  study  of  variants  we  select  the  following  (Fig. 
139)  from  the  Dresden  Codex,  where  the  profile-face  passes  into  a  semblance  of  the 
full-face. 


Fig.  139. 


Or   as  is  occasionally  seen   in  the  Troano  mannscript,  the  oblique  line  of  the 


profile 
simple 


a  change   as  r  o 


passes  into  horizontally  one 
carelessness  in    drawiiiof. 


oi  The  outlines  C. ^  and 


These  are  examples  we  take  it  of 
Yet  we  nowhere  find  so  violent  a 


In  reviewing  the  human  face  and  its  variants  we  can  readily  see  why  the  full 
face  should  be  represented  by  the  Greek  cross  and  figures  growing  out  of  it,  and  the 
profile  by  the  ci-oss  of  St.  Andrew's,  viz.,  by  the  repetition  of  the  essential  lines  of 
both  full-face  and  profile. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  not  the  crossing  of  lines  which  is  as  essential  as  their  posi- 
tions.   A  vertical  and  a  horizontal  line  are  equally  distinctive  of  a  face  whether  crossed 

*  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 

t  Ibid. 

t  Ibid. 

g  From  Dresden  Codex. 

II  Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 

If  Ibid.  (Borgian  Codex.) 

** Kings.  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 


52 


AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 


or  not,  as  we  have  represented.  So  the  oblique  Hne  is  suggestive  of  the  profile, 
although  it  may  be  isolated.  But  the  vertical  line  of  the  nose  needs  but  to  be  pro- 
duced to  cross  the  horizontal  line  of  the  teeth  to  give  a  radical  notion  of  the  most 
conspicuous  facial  lines ;  and  thus  serving  as  a  model  to  the  profile,  which  probably 
came  later,  and  produced  from  the  single  natural  line  of  the  profile  an  artificial  com- 
plement crossing  it  at  the  centre. 

That  the  line  drawn  from  the  top  of  the  occiput  to  the  mouth  is  a  true  line  of  the 
profile  can  readily  be  seen  by  producing  the  corner  of  the  mouth.  The  natural  direc- 
tion of  the  angle,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  upward  and  backward.  Archaic  types 
tend  to  emphasize  this  elevation,  and  primitive  art  to  notably  exaggerate  it.  Witness, 
for  example,  such  variants  as  the  following  from  theTroano  Manuscript :  (Fig.  140.) 

Fiff.  140. 


(*)  (+) 

Let  us  suppose  that  in  the  first  outline  of  this  group  the  line  had  been  extended 
to  the  crown  we  would  have  had  the  /^^  of  the  Landa  Alphabet  and  the  Dresden 
Codex. 

The  architectural  profile  head,  composed  for  the  most  part  of  peripheral  exag- 
gerations, is  given  with  the  following  figures : 

Fig.  141.  (t)  Fig.  142.  (§)  Fig.  143.  (||)  Fig.  144.  (H) 


Fig.  145.  (**) 


Fig.  146.  (+t) 


Human  profiles  from  Aztec  (glyptic)  design. 
*  Troano  Manuscript. 

t  Ibid. 

X  Troano  Manuscript,  pi.  23. 

§  From  Casa  del  Cober  Nador,  Catherwood,  I.  c. 

\\  Ibid. 

IF  Stephens,  Yucatan,  1849,  II,  292. 

**-ft  Kingsborougli  Coll.  (Dupaix.) 


LIFE-FOEM   IN    ART. 


53 


(B.)  THE  RADICAL  OF  MAN. 

As  11  cosmopolitan  form  tlie  human  figure  presents  features  which  are  every- 
where recognizable.  One  of  its  most  ancient  expressions  is  a  linear  vertical  ending 
superiorly,  either  simply  or  by  a  rounded  knob,  and  joined  below  the  knob  and  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  vertical,  by  two  transverse  bars  completes  the  outline. 

Let  us  compare  a  few  of  these  from  widely  remote  localities  : 


Fig.  147. 


(*) 


O 


(t) 

CD 


<§) 
Q 


Are  not  these  sufficiently  alike  to  lead  the  observer  to  conclude  that  a  kind  of 
sequence  in  time  might  be  traced  from  the  Asiatic  forms  to  the  American  ?  It  is 
certainly  curious  that  the  figure  from  Pallas  is  a  constant,  invariable  shape,  which  is 
often  repeated  on  the  rocks  of  Siberia,  while  that  of  the  South  American  figure  is 
equally  distinctive  of  those  found  on  the  rocks  of  the  valley  of  the  Amazon.^j 

Among  other  anthropoid  radicals  figured  by  Spix,  is  the  following  (Fig.  148), 
marked  by  the  curved  extremities  of  the  vertical  line  as  in  Fig.  147. 


*  Lesley,  I.  c,  see  also  Sylvester's  Faleographie,  pi.  1,  sliowiiig  characters  of  ancient  Chinese  dialect  of  similar 
construction. 

f  Reise  aus  Siberieu  zuriick  an  die  Wolga  in  1^73.     Pallas,  Tli.  Ill,  Zw.  Buc!i ,  pi.  G. 

X  Whipple,  L  c,  from  rock  at  Arch  Spring,  near  Zuni,  New  Mexico. 

§  Bartlett,  J.  R.,  Personal  Narrative  of  Expl.  and  Incidents  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  California,  Sonora,etc.,  New 
York,  1854.     Fculptured  rocks  on  the  Gila,  pi.  1,  Vol.  IT,  p.  196. 

II  Reise  in  Brasilien.    Spix  und  von  Martins— Atlas.    Sculpturen  auf  Felsen  am  Rio  Lapura. 

^  See  also  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  London,  III,  114,  pi.  10,  J.  Whitefield.     In  this  paper  a 
number  of  linear  signs  are  given  from  Ceai'a,  Brazil. 


54 


A7>J    AT^ALYSIS    OF    THE 


Fiir.  148. 


O 


Without  the  aid  of  the  one  it  would  have  been  very  difficult  if  not  impossible 
to  have  determined  the  significance  of  the  other.  But  with  it  and  that  of  the 
variant  of  the  human  face,  the  determination  becomes  easy. 

Of  radicals  in  which  the  inferior  extremities  are  marked  by  oblique  lines,  we 
have  a  large  number  of  illustrations.  The  vertical  may  or  may  not  be  produced 
below  the  lower  pair  of  divergent  lines. 

The  apparent  likeness  announced  in  the  above,  forces  us  to  ask  ourselves  the  fol- 
lowing question  :  Is  the  resemblance  between  outlines,  selected  from  rocks  scattered 
from  J^Torway  to  South  America,  merely  accidental  ?  There  is  a  drawing  in  Morillet 
from  a  I'ock  in  I^Torway*  (Fig.  149) ;  another  group  in  Siberiaf  (Fig.  150) ;  a  third, 


Fig.  149.  (*) 


Fig.  150.    (t) 


S^      :      ^ 


vi!:^rmiiW 


Sa^^^^r. 


[Sculpture  on  rock  in  Norway. 


belonging  to  I'ocks  of  our  Western  plainsj  (Fig.  151) ;  a  fourth  series  is  seen  in  the 

*  Morillet,  L  c,  V,  535. 
t  Pallas,  Reise,  I.  c. 


X  See  also  Journal  of  the  AntlirOpolo;fical  Institute,  London,  Til,  114,  pU  10,  .T.  Wliitefe'rl.     In  this  paper  a 
number  of  linear  signs  are  given  from  Ceara,  Erazil. 


LIFE-FORM   IN    ART.  56 

Fig.  151.  Fig-.  153.  Fig.  15?. 


i^ 


Jt 


(*)    (+)  it)    (?)  (I) 

Aztec  manuscript  (Fig.  152)  ;  and  a  fifth,  upon  tlie  rocks  of  Nicaragua  and  South 
America  (Fig.  153). 

It  is  decided  at  first  sight  that  these  resemblances  are  nothing  but  the  natural 
results  of  simplifying  the  easily-copied  human  form — and  that  rude  artists  could 
with  difficulty  avoid  producing  figures  which  would  closely  resemble  one  another. 
Thus  the  Asiatic,  European  and  American  tribes  must  have  produced  results  such 
as  those  represented  above.  The  lamentable  instance  of  the  Abbe  Domenick,  who 
mistook  a  German  school-boy's  copy-book  for  a  collection  of  pictures  by  ^^Torth 
American  Indians,  to  say  nothing  of  the  more  magnificent  follies  of  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg,  are  calculated  to  warn  the  student  against  any  attempt  at  generalization  even 
from  genuine  material.  We,  however,  doubt  whether  any  other  than  a  South  American 
aborigine  could  have  told  what  Fig.  148,  was  intended  to  represent,  much  less  could  we 
expect  an  Indian,  oi-  a  school-boy  to  draw  such  a  form  for  man.  The  very  shape  of 
such  an  outline  is  proof  of  its  being  an  ultimate  modification  from  a  pre-existing  form. 
Its  presence  at  once  suggests  experience  as  a  necessit}^  to  its  existence.  JSTo  child 
could  possibly  conceive  of  it — and  no  adult  trace  it  unless  he  had  become  acquainted 
with  the  traditions  and  conventionalities  of  which  it  is  the  result. 

Again,  such  a  radical  as  fv  is  seen  on  a  photograph  of  a  rock  in  the  Western 
United  States  to  represent  J^  man,  as  can  be  shown  in  the  following  sequence 
(Fig.  151) : 

*  Report  of  tlie  Indian  Tribes  of  New  Mexico,  Lt.  A.  W.  Whipple.  From  rock  at  Ojo  Pescado.  Lt.  Whipple 
in  speaking  of  this  says,  "  the  figure  might  be  jn-onounced  to  be  centuries  old." 

f  Simpson's  Report,  I.  c.  pi.  25,  fig.  2.  See  also  in  this  connection  a  i)hotograph  of  a  rock  opposite  Parawan, 
Utah,  in  series  published  by  U.  S.  Government  (Wheeler's  Expedition,  1872).  The  sign  /  from  Painter  Creek, 
New  Mexico,  figured  by  Whipple,  loc.  cit.,  has  the  lower  part,  recalling  the  figure  from  ^P  Brazil  (see  Spix 
and  von  Martins).  It  is  described  as  being  very  old  and  much  effaced.  May  not  the  transverse  Unes  have  been  obliter- 
ated in  time  ? 

X  Kingsborough  Coll.  (Dresden  Codex.) 

§  Troano  Manuscript,  Paris,  1809,  pi.  35.     This  sign  is  represented  in  the  manuscript  as  inverted. 

II  Squier,  Nicaragua  and  her  People,  II,  pi.  1,  24. 

T[  From  original  drawings  by  A.  Fendler,  in  library  of  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Phila.  The  rocks  are  near 
San  Ksteban,  S.  A.     (See  Smithsonian  Rep.,  1857,  218.) 

8 


56 


AN   AN^ALYSIS    OF    THE 


Fig.  154. 


I^ow  if  the  last  of  the  series  be  man,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  preceding- 
three  have  been  derived  from  it,  and  that  the  first  is  its  radical.  If  it  be  so^  the  following 
Figure  155,  will  be  composed  of  two  anthropoid  outlines  on  either  side  of  a  central 
object. 


Fig.  15.-).  (f) 


Squiei', 


Let  us  take  this  object  of  Fig.  155  and  endeavor  to  fix  its  value. 


Fig.  156. 


Fig;.  157.   (t) 


Fig.  158.  (g) 


Figures  157  and  158  are  probably  representations  of  man,  and  we  ai'e  led  to 
believe  that  Fig.  156  and  the  central  portion  of  Fig.  155  have  the  same  value.  We 
have  already  seen  the  probable  bearing  of  the  cross  marking  within  these  two  figures. 

Assuming  the  correctness  of  the  conclusion  that  the  figure  is  anthropoid,  we  have 
to  explain  the  connection  between  it   and  the  two  inclined  figures  on  either  side. 

*  Simpson,  I.  c. 

\  Squier,  Nicaragvia,  I.  c. 

X  Ibid.  I.  c. 

%  Spix,  wnd  V.  Martins,  I.  c. 


LIFE   FORM   IIn    AllT. 


57 


This  may  be  done,  we  think,  by  fixing  the  concrete  symbols  representing,  it  is  thought, 
the  cardinal  points.  We  would  place  the  figure  in  the  same  category  with  the 
symbols  there  figured,  and  present  in  the  same  connection  such  forms  as  Figure 
159,  interpreting  the  side  pieces  as  human  faces  with  chins  directed  to  the  side  of  the 
full-faced  countenance :  * 

Fig.  159. 


Anthropoid  outline  with  symmetilcal  face-radicals,  of  Aztec  design. 

Could  any  of  the  above  lines  be  accidental  ?  Could  any  of  them  have  been 
forgot  by  the  dishonest,  or  imitated  by  novices?  Or,  could  any  school-bred 
sci-awler,  boy  or  man,  have  made  them  ?  May  we  not  place  in  the  same  connection 
this  piece  (Fig,  160)  of  Haidah  (Babine)  carving  ?t   In  speaking  of  this,  Mr.  Wilson 

Fig.  ICjO, 


Full-face  human  countenance  with  complex  lateral  face  radicals,  of  Haidah  design. 

aptly  remarks :  "  I  was  struck  with  a  certain  i-esemblance  to  the  peculiar  st^'le  of 
ancient  Mexican  and  still  more  of  Central  Amei'ican  art." 

Fig.  161.  (t) 


Symmetrical  composite  of  Aztec  design,  showing  an  lurangenient  of  full-face  and  profile  radicals. 
*  Squier,  I.  c,  I,  406.       t  Prehistoric  Man,  Daniel  Wilson,  Lond.,  1862,  II,  21.       $  Humboldt,  Vue  de  Cordilleras. 


5S  AN  ANALYSIS   OF   THE 


Fig.  162. 


Algonquin  sign  of  man. 

The  above  outlines  (Fig.  162)  are  copied  from  an  authentic  Algonquin  song, 
figured  in  the  pamphlet  ah-eady  noticed,  by  Mr.  Sqiiier,  by  whom  they  are  termed 
"  mnemonic  symbols.''''  Mr.  Squier,  who  is  an  eminent  authority,  believes  the  figures 
trustworthy.  He  states  (page  7),  "that  with  a  view  of  leaving  no  means 
unemployed  to  ascertain  its  (the  manuscript's)  true  value,  I  submitted  it  without 
explanation  to  an  educated  Indian  Chief  (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh),  George  Copway,  who 
unhesitatingly  pronounced  it  authentic,  in  respect  not  only  to  the  original  signs  and 
accompanying  explanations  in  the  Delaware  dialect,  but  also  in  the  general  ideas 
and  conceptions  which  it  embodies.  *  *  *  I  feel  I  am  not  obtruding  the  coinage 
of  a  curious  idler,  nor  an  apocryphal  record,  but  presenting  matter  deserving  of 
attention,  and  of  important  bearings  upon  many  interesting  questions  connected 
with  the  history  of  our  aboriginal  nations." 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  these  figures  represent  the  Algonquin 
method  of  representing  man.  In  no  one  of  them  do  we  recognize  the  linear  radical 
already  considered,  nor  any  outline  w^hich  would  be  liable  by  abridgment  to  run 
into  it.  When  we  remember  the  fact  that  the  song  is  entitled  The  Creation,  the 
figures  employed  in  illustrating  it  were  probably  of  fixed  value  and  of  considerable 
antiquity.  Mr.  Schoolcraft  informs  us  that  the  Indian  picture- characters  were, 
among  the  Ojibways,  "taught  to  the  young  as  carefully  as  our  alphabet."  We  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  but  that  they  have  preserved  their  jDresent  appearance  for  a  long 
time.  Is  it  assuming  too  much  from  our  premises  to  suggest  that  the  outline  a  (Fig.  163) 
is  an  Algonquin  sign  of  man,  and  that  c  is  an  imperfect  form  of  the  same?  If  this  be 
conceded  and  internal  evidence  given  that  the  drawings  were  made  at  about  the 
same  time,  may  we  not  call  the  inscription  Algonquin,  and  that  the  signs  have 
some  relation  to  Fig.  162? 


LIFE-FORM   IN   ART. 
Fig.  163. 


59 


An  Algonquin  Rock- carving* 


a — Algonquin  sign  of  man. 

6 — Anthropoid  ('?). 

c —Anthropoid  of  the  type-ligured. 

d — An  unfinished,  or  an  effaced  figure. 

e— Turtle. 

g — Hand. 

Ji — Unknown. 


Fiff.  164. 


If  such  be  granted,  the  above  sign  (Fig.  161)  from  a  rock  in  Kansas  will  be  placed 
in  the  same  group.  The  entire  absence  of  Aztec-like  signs  in  such  a  series  of 
pictographs  and  inscriptions  is  suggestive. 

The  same  cannot  be  said  of  some  other  inscriptions,  as  for  example  the  Parowan 
inscription  in  Utah.  Here  amid  signs  suggestive  of  influence  which  the  Aztec  people, 
or  the  unknown  South  American  tribes  had  in  common,  appear  others  such  as  Fig. 

Fig.  165. 


105,  which   so  intimately  resembles  the  genuine  Algonquin,  that  we   can  have  no 
doubt  of  their  identity.     Here  we   have,  we   may    say,  a  modern  savage   making 

*  Squier's  Ancient  Monuments,  Smithson.  Cont.,  vol.  I,  298. 

f  Indian  Inscription  Rock  at  Indian  Cave,  on  Mulberry  Creek,  Kansas.     (From  photograph,  by  A.  Gordon, 
Washington,  D.  C.) 


GO  AN   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

his  mark  among  the  ancient  signs  that  attracted  his  attention,  as  a  modern  tourist 
might  scratch  his  name  upon  a  slab  of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics. 

This  marking  of  new  signs  over  and  among  older  ones  must  always  remain  a 
confusing  element  to  the  student  of  inscrij^tions.  Man  is  inherently  a  scrawler  and 
something  among  his  attempts  at  artistic  outlines  must  be  attributed  to  that 
same  desire  which  marks  certain  uncultiu'ed  pei'sons  who  cainiot  resist  the  tendency 
to  carve  rude  figures,  or  write  their  name  at  noted  localities. 

In  the  Dresden  Codex  we  have  a  sequence  of  the  squatting  human  figure  (Fig. 
1G6)  unlike  anything  yet  seen. 


Yhr.  1G6. 


©     ^ 


Squatting  Anthropokls,  of  Aztec  desifjn. 


The  difficulties  attending  the  study  of  the  human  figure  are  very  gi-eat.  We 
will  present  two  of  the  more  prominent  of  these.  What  is  to  prevent,  for  example, 
some  of  the  outlines  marked  by  the  produced  vertical  axis  representing  a  tailed 
quadruped  ?  (Fig.  107.) 


Fiir.  167. 


(+) 


This  is  not  a  little  puzzling,  particularly  since  we  are  informed  of  the  value 
attached  to  the  reptilian  batrachian  forms  in  Anahuac  chronology.  While  acknowl- 
edging the  suggestiveness  of  the  produced  vertical,  we  nevertheless  find  the  figures 
of  quadru])eds  to  be  such  as  ^0  of  Pallas.  Thus  proving  the  absence  of  quadru- 
pedal type  comparable  to  an  V^  anthropoid  type,  and  also  that  although  it  is  not 
impossible  that  the  produced  vertical  line  may  at  times  mean  "tail,"  it  is  not  probable 
that  it  meant  anything  of  the  kind. 


*  Kiiigsborourgli  Coll.  (Codex  Vaticensiy.) 
+  BoUaeit,  I.  c. 
X  Pallas,  I.  c. 


LIFE-FORM   I:N^   ART.  61 

Fig.  168.  (*) 


This  figure  (Fig.  168)  from  Bartlett  is  here  given  to  show  the  radical  of  man, 
as  we  have  determined  it,  in  the  act  of  driving  an  animal. 

In  some  ontlines  from  the  Gila  region,  by  the  same  authority  we  have  a  man-like 
figure  with  produced  vertical  associated  with  one  in  which  it  is  absent.  If,  as  may  be 
suggested,  that  the  Hue  has  a  sexual  significance,  its  absence  would  indicate  the  com- 
panion figures  to  represent  female  forms. 

Another  great  difficulty,  determining  the  man-radical  is  that  in  countries,  where 
the  inhabitants  have  been  under  Christian  influence,  the  vertical  and  transverse  lines 
have  oi'iginated  in  crude  imitations  of  the  Latin  cross.  Such  influence  undoubtedly 
exists  in  the  design  of  our  Indians,  especially  among  those  who  have  been  brought  in 
association  with  Jesuits.  The  following  signs  from  Jonathan's  Cave,  near  Fife, 
Scotland,  are  certainly  very  suggestive  of  the  series  on  p.  55,  and  we  are  only 
deterred  from  so  placing  them  from  the  other  evidences  in  the  same  locahty  of 
modern  influences. 

Fig.  169.  (+) 


lit 


As  has  already  been  observed,  the  position  of  acccssoiy  signs  more  than  their 
shape  determine  their  significance. 
Of  the  sign 


it  would  be  difliicult  to  prove  that  it  was  not  a  face,  and  the  symmetrical  dots  eyes, 
except  by  comparison  with  the  following  from  a  rock  in  the  same  country  (Fig.  170) : 


*  Bartlett,  I  c,  I,  206. 

t  Simpson,  J.  Y.,  Archaic  sculpturing  of  cups,  circles,  etc.,  Edinburgh,  ISfi"; 

J  Near  Colonia  Touar,  A.  Fenrtler,  I.  c. 


G2 


A^Jf   AXALYSIS    OF    THE 

Fig.  170.  (*) 


4^ 


\ 


when  it  is  at  once  shown  that  the  entire  figure  is   represented,  and  the  symmetrical 
markings  are  not  eyes  but  mammae. 

Fijr.   171. 


A  curious  figure  in  the  Borgian  Codex,  showing  the  produced  vertical  and  transverse  lines  of  the  ancient  mdical  of  man. 

Section  Y.  Other  variants  from  the  Dresden  Codex  and  other  sources,  of  JSforth 
American  design. 

Fig.  173. 


■0 


The  Breastplate. 

Fig.  173. 

%^ 

The  Lizard. 
*  Fi'oltl  Kock  on  Rio  La:)una,  Ppix  Uiid  v.  MartiuR,  t.  6. 


LIFE-FORM  IN   ART. 
Fiff.  174. 


63 


mi 


An  unknown  animal. 


Fig.  175. 


(*) 


The  Ear-ring. 


Fig.  17G. 


^ 


(I) 
"The  Three  Balls." 


(1) 


SECTiojiT  VI.  Difficulties  met  with  in  analyzing  the  Life-form.  We  have  now 
given  a  number  of  examples  of  the  plan  proposed  for  the  study  of  variants,  suffi- 
cient we  hoi^e  for  the  demonstration  of  the  object  in  view.  The  reader  has 
doubtless  observed  that  the  fields  from  which  the  figures  in  the  diiferent  series  have 
been  gleaned  have  varying  degrees  of  probability.  In  some,  as  in  those  from 
the  Dresden  Codex,  we  find  all  the  outlines  secured  from  a  single  manuscript.  In 
others  the  radical  may  be  found  in  the  manuscript,  but  the  intermediate-forms  are 
scattered  in  the  sculpture  and  rock-pictures  of  Central  America.  In  another  group 
again  these  shapes  are  sought  for  on  the  rocks  of  Utah — the  carvings  of  the  Frazer 

*  Ribeiarao  (Bolivia),  Harp.  Mag.,  Vol.  XLIV,  502. 

\  Kings.  Coll.  (Dupaix). 

X  Stephens,  I.  c, 

§  From  U.  S.  photograph,  rock  opposite  Parowan,  Utah.     Wheeler's  Expedition. 

I  Jones,  Southern  Antiquities,  378. 

T[  Squiei-,  Traditions  of  Algoaquins  and  Song  of  Creation. 

9 


64  A?^   ANALYSIS    OF    THE 

River  natives — or  even,  as  in  the  first  mentioned  human-figure-series,  from  Asia  and 
Europe.  We  have  in  every  instance  simply  placed  the  objects  in  the  order  they 
appear  to  make  for  themselves,  indifferent  to  the  localities  in  which  the  objects  have 
been  found.  In  many  instances,  as  with  Central  American  design,  the  sequence  of 
the  outlines  are  promptly  confirmed  by  our  knowledge  of  chronology.  In  others  this 
chronology  has  not  been  made  out.  With  such  we  leave  the  forms  to  speak  for 
themselves.  We  certainly  are  not  anxious  to  establish  any  theory,  and  have  pur- 
posely placed  all  material  which  would  appear  to  point  to  any  definite  lines  of  migra- 
tion in  the  form  of  queries. 

As  may  be  readily  seen  the  entire  study  is  fraught  with  difficulty.  Particularly 
is  this  the  case  in  the  field  of  Central  American  design.  Fancy  is  here  continually 
dulling  the  ear  of  judgment ;  and  the  student,  as  he*  turns  the  pages  of  the  Kings- 
borough  vohimes,  is  more  often  tempted  to  weave  little  fictions  about  the  gaudy 
"grotesques"  before  him,  than  i-emain  content  to  be  guided  by  the  truth  that  so 
evidently  underlies  them.  We  have  endeavored  to  keep  free  from  all  weakness  of 
this  kind,  and  to  leave  to  others  the  interpretation  of  the  grinning  skeletons,  the 
priestly  sacrifices,  the  murderous  assaults,  the  mysterious  pot-boilings,  that  so  plenti- 
fully bestrew  the  Codices. 

A  difficulty  of  another  kind  is  met  with  in  the  variants  of  art- forms  of  older  and 
more  cultured  races  than  the  American.  The  higher  the  art  and  more  concrete  the 
style  the  less  satisfactory  becomes  the  interpretation  of  variants.  Cardinal  Wiseman* 
has  justly  said:  "Great  caution  should  be  used  in  judging  characteristic  form  from 
works  belonging  to  the  higher  department  of  art.  N^o  nation  long  possesses  the  art 
of  representation,  without  forming  to  itself  an  ideal,  abstractive  type ;  and  the 
caution  to  be  used  should  necessarily  be  doubled,  where  the  art  and  their  types  are 
borrowed."  The  fact  that  scarcely  a  single  art-form  in  the  entire  range  of  Indo- 
Germanic  art — nay  even  within  that  larger  area  of  Mesopotamia  and  Egypt — can  be 
quoted,  which  does  not  exhibit  in  its  history  the  traces  of  mutual  influence,  is  some- 
times sufficient  to  cast  a  doubt  upon  the  arrangement  of  form  in  a  supposed  succes- 
sion, even  when  the  chronicles  of  the  nations  yielding  them  have  been  fixed. 

Let  us,  foi' example,  suppose  that  a  cylinder  has  been  found  at  Babylon,  which 
is  determined  to  belong  to  the  late  Babylonian  empire.  !N^ow  the  Assyrian  influence 
upon  the  art  of  this  empire  is  conceded,  and  we  should  seek  for  the  source  of  the 
conventionalisms  upon  the  cylinder  to  their  associated  variants  among  the 
alabasters  of  Khorsabad  or  JSTimroud.  Could  we  stop  here  the  search  would  be  easy. 
But  we  are  informed  by  Rawlinson  that  Assyria  itself  is  a  northern  branch  of  the 

*  Science  and  Revealed  Religion,  T,  251. 


LIFE-FOKM    IN    AliT. 


65 


Chaldean  stock,  and  although  its  art  is  in  a  gr'eat  measure  indigenous,  its  germs  were 
imported  from  the  ancient  Babylon,  and  in  some  instances  have  simply  returned  to 
that  source  after  undergoing  changes  due  to  their  prolonged  expatriation.  If  in  addi- 
tion to  this  the  influence  exerted  by  Egyptian  form  upon  the  later  Assyrian  figures 
be  acknowledged,  it  makes  the  task  of  arranging  in  a  chronological  sequence  a  series 
of  Mesopotamian  variants  an  exceedingly  difficult  one.  We  think  that  the  internal 
evidence  furnished  by  the  objects  themselves  is  a  much  easier-  and  in  the  end  as 
satisfactory  a  guide. 

That  archaeologists  have  not  studied  primitive  art-form  by  this  internal  evidence, 
or,  as  a  naturalist  would  express  it,  by  seeking  for  a  standard  of  grouping  by  com- 
parisons of  the  actual  forms,  can  be  at  once  seen  by  quoting  a  few  examples. 

The  first  we  propose  mentioning  is  the  attempted  interpretation  of  the  Landa 
Alphabet.  Dr.  D.  G.  Bi-inton,  in  an  interesting  pam])hlet  entitled  ''  The  Ancient 
Phonetic  Alphabet  of  Yucatan,"*  has  printed  this  alphabet  which,  as  we  are  informed 
by  Dr.  Brinton,  "  was  unearthed  in  a  library  in  Madrid — that  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  History,"  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg.  It  was  contained  in  an  unpub- 
lished description  of  Yucatan,  composed  by  Diego  de  Landa,  the  first  bishop  of  the 
country.  This  alphabet  is  given  below  (Fig.  177)  with  indications  of  the  objects 
by  ourselves.f 


1  a 


Parrot . 


2  a 


Parrot . 


Fiff.  177. 


3  a 


&    a 


Profile. 


4  a 


Parrot. 


5  b 

6 

# 

§ 

Jnlcnown. 

Full-face 

Full-ftice. 


8  ca 


Brow. 


10  t 


11  e 


Profile  Face.        Comprehensive  sign.      Full-face. 


12  h 


Plant. 


13  h 


Plant. 


15  i 


14  lia 


Face  profile.  Full-face. 


16  k 


17  ka 


Animal. 


18  1 


Profile. 


*  New  York,  1870,  J.  Sabiu  &  Son. 

f  It  is  necessary  to  mention  that  we  had  not  seen  the  Landa  alphabet  until  this  essay  had  been  nearly  completed. 


66 


AN   ANALYSIS   OF   THE 


Fig. 

177- 

—  Continued. 

19  1 

20  m 

21  n 

22  o 

0 

m 

S 

Profile. 

Profile. 

Serpent. 

Invt'd  Inima 

25  pp 

26  X 

27  X 

28  u 

23  o 


24  p 


29  u 


®     g) 


Profile. 


Hand. 


Profile.      Crotalian  curve  inverted.     Unknown. 


Profile. 
30  z 

Vase. 


According  to  this  interpretation,  out  of  the  thirty  figures  composing  the  alphabet, 

18  are  from  portions  or  combinations  of  portions  of  the  human  frame,  viz.,  Nos.  3,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  14,  15,  16, 

18,  19,  20,  22,  24,  25,  26,  27. 
3  are  from  birds,  viz.,  Nos.  1,  2,  4. 
2  from  serpents,  viz.,  Nos.  21,  23. 

1  is  from  unknown  animal,  17. 

2  are  from  plants,  viz.,  12,  13. 
1  is  a  vase,  30. 

3  are  from  unknown  objects,  viz  ,  2,  5,  29. 

30 

According  to  Dr.  Brinton,  I.  c,  the  meaning  of  the  objects  of  this  alphabet  should 
be  something  as  follows  : 

a.  ^os.  ] ,  2,  and  4  are  representatives  of  the  heads  of  some  animals ;  No.  2  being 
evidently  the  head  of  a  bird,  with  a  long  curved  beak,  probably  a  species  of  parrot. 
]N^o.  3  has  been  supposed  to  represent  a  leg  or  a  boat  of  some  kind,  but  is  probably 
also  a  rude  figure  of  a  head. 

&.  Both  these  letters  are  supi)osed  to  represent  a  path  or  way  bearing  the  marks 
of  foot  prints  indicated  by  the  small  figures  inside  the  circle. 

c.  This  letter  *  *  *  *  is  imagined  to  represent  a  mouth  displajdng  sharp  teeth. 

ca.  Is  explained  as  the  jaw  of  an  animal  thickly  set  with  teeth ;  but  a  careful 
examination  of  its  variations  leads  to  the  belief  that  it  is  a  representation  of  an  eye- 
lash. 

cu.  This  has  never  been  identified. 

t.  Signifies  space,  the  four  marks  leading  toward  the  centre,  representing  the 
four  cardinal  points. 

e.  Probably  a  front  view  of  the  human  face,  surmounted  by  the  hair,  the  dots 
marking  the  eyes,  nose  and  mouth. 

li.  ISTos.  12  and  13,  variations  of  the  same,  represents  a  joint  of  bamboo.  ]S^o.  14 
represents  a  flowing  stream   around  some  objects. 


LIFE-FOKM   IN   AKT. 


67 


i.  No  satisfactory  analysis  has  yet  been  offered  of  this  letter.  It  seems  formed 
after  the  analogy  of  c. 

h,  Ten.  The  h  is  beyond  doubt  derived  from  a  head  seen  in  profile.  The  npper 
figure  within  the  circle  is  the  closed  eye  with  its  lashes  (compare  jfSTo.  8)  ;  that  below 
on  the  right  is  the  ear  (compare  Ko.  28) ;  that  on  the  left  is  the  month.  The  Tcu  is 
supposed  to  be  a  drawing  of"  the  sacred  "  medicine  bag." 

I.  N^either  of  these  have  been  resolved. 

m.  This  also  is  the  figure  of  a  head.  It  is  distinguished  from  the  h  from  the  eye 
being  open,  from  the  p  by  the  absence  of  dots  around  the  mouth. 

n.  Possibly  the  figure  of  a  serpent. 

o.  Variations  of  the  same,  of  uncertain  origin. 

2J,  pp.  Again  the  face  in  profile. 

X.  The  figure  is  easily  recognized  as  the  human  hand,  the  second  as  a  face  in 
profile  emitting  breath  from  the  mouth. 

u.  The  first  sign  represents  the  ear,  the  second  is  of  uncertain  derivation. 

z.  This  seems  to  be  a  vase  of  some  kind. 

We  think  we  can  fairly  claim  to  have  improved  upon  the  above  identifications  ; 
how  much,  we  must  leave  to  others  to  decide. 

For  another  example  we  will  take  that  of  the  Palenque  cross.  We  have  already 
indicated  that  the  ornament  on  the  ends  of  the  horizontal  bar  of  the  cross  are  jDrofile 
rattlesnake  heads.  The  object  (Fig.  178)  (evidently  of  animal  origin)  upon  which 
rests  the  vertical  bar,  has  been  called  by  Dr.  Brintoir^  a  rattlesnake  head.  Our  com- 
parisons lead  us,  however,  to  conclude  that  the  object  is  not  a  rattlesnake  head  but  a 
full-faced  human  skull.     With  this  opinion,  Dr.  Brinton  informs  us  he  now  concurs. 


"  Full-fiice  "  ]jat<llteMal4e  head,  from  Aztec  design. 


*  Myth  of  the  New  World,  I.  c. 


68  AN   ANALYSIS   OF    THE 

In  Mr.  Gabb's  collection  of  fragments  of  San  Domingo  pottery  already  mentioned, 

Fitf .  179. 


occurs  the  following : 


Front.  Profile. 

This  has  been  denominated  by  Mr.  G.  and  others,  a  "bird  head."  We,  however, 
conclude  from  associated  fragments  that  it  was  not  a  bird  head  but  a  variant  of  a 
monkey  head,  thus  :* 

Fig.  180. 


Sectioi^  YII.  Method  of  studying  Rock,  Inscriptions  and  Pictographs.  Appljdng 

*  For  rather  free  identification  of  Polynesian  forms,   see  the  hieroglyphics  of  Easter  Island,  Journal  Anthro- 
pological Institute  of  London,  III,  370,  pi.  20. 


LIFE-FORM   IN    ART. 


69 


the  conclusion  we  have  attempted  to  educe  that  before  naming  an  object  of  primitive 
art,  it  is  necessary  to  j)^'ove  its  identity  by  inteUigent  comparison,  rather  than  to 
guess  at  it,  we  submit  a  few  specimens  of  rock  carvings,  and  propose  to  name  their 
several  outUnes. 

Fig.   181. 


Inscription  at  Zipatero,  Nicaragua.* 

a.  Is  composed  of  a  pair  of  circles,  one  enclosed  in  the  other.  We  have 
mentioned  on  p.  2  our  reasons  for  doubting  the  exact  indentification  of  this  and 
analogous  signs  as  the  one  at  e.  They  may  be  representations  of  the  innumerable 
roundish  natural  objects. 

h.  However,  is  much  more  definite.  Referring  to  the  variants,  these  are  observed 
to  be  like  a  pair  of  brows ;  the  enclosed  objects  probably  answering  to  eyes. 

c.  Is  probably  serpentine. 

d.  Unknown. 

f.  The  modified  crotalian  curve. 

h.  Forehead  ornament. 

^.  Unknown,  probably  an  ornamentation  about  an  eye. 
j.  A  variant  of  the  crotalian  curve. 

Fig.  182. 


o,  ■ 


%  *-- 


Inscription  in  New  Mexico.  (Gila  Region  )f 


a.  Ancient  sign  of  man.    (Turanian  distribution  ?) 


h.  More  modern  sign  of  man. 


*  Squ!er,  Nicaragua,  II,  60. 
t  Bai-tlett,  L  c,  II,  216. 


70 


A^   ANALYSIS   OP   THE 


c.  Probably  derived    by   imitation  by  some  nomad  who  has  seen    the  sign  of 
human  profile  on  an  Aztec  monument. 

d.  Modern  sign  of  quadruped,  mounted  by  man. 

e.  Quadruped  sign. 

f.  Unknown. 

Fiff.  183. 


An  inscription  showing  examples  of  the  ancient  anthropoid  sign.  * 

A  knowledge  of  Central  American  design  has  rendered  the  task  easy  of  proving 
that  the  markings  (Fig.  184)  had  been  made  by  some  one  under  the  influence  of  the 
art  of  the  region  in  which  they  were  discovered,  and  we  have  no  hesitation  in 
naming  it  Aztec. 

Fiff.  184. 


#       ^^ 


^7^ 


Aztec  Inscription,  (f ) 

a.  Profile  crotahan  jaw  curve. 

h.  Upper  member  of  a  variant  of  same. 

c.  Closed  variant  of  the  same. 

d.  Probably  a  bifid  tongue  proti'uding  from  a  Crotalus  head. 

e.  Unknown. 

f.  Same  as  h. 

g.  Simplified  crotalian  curves. 

*  Emory's  Report,  1848,  p.  00.  (Near  Oila  River.)  +  Stephens,  I  c,  1840. 


IJFE  FOKM   IN    ART. 


Yf 


h.  Eattles  of  rattlesnakes.  The  letter  is  placed  between  two  figures  of  the  same 
value. 

i.  Unknown. 

/.  Unknown. 

I.  Mouth  with  teeth. 

m.  Human  foot  with  rattlesnake — rattle  ornament  as  anklet. 

n.  Serpentine  curve. 

0.  Unknown  symmeti'ical  design. 

Such  are  some  of  the  conclusions  to  be  derived  from  the  study  of  the  life-form 
in  art !  We  pause  in  the  midst  of  an  endless  theme,  with  the  mind  thronged  with 
strange  shapes  that  arrange  themselves  into  groups  of  imperfectly-defined  limits. 

As  we  acquaint  ourselves  with  these  attempts  of  man  to  record  his  thoughts  in 
carvings  and  painted  images,  we  are  partakers  of  the  pleasures  of  the  naturalist. 
Man  in  establishing  fashions  of  love-making  and  house-building  is  an  object  of  the 
same  sort  of  interest  as  the  bird  or  the  bee.  The  method  of  study  adopted  in  each 
case  should  be  the  same,  however  we  may  be  influenced  by  importance  of  the  results 
thereby  obtained. 

Fiff.  185. 


Specimen  of  the  characters  of  the  Dresden  Codex. 


ERRATA. 

Fig.  2,  p.  7,  is  most  probably  the  OdontopJiortis  of  Tschudi. 

For  Mephistopholes  on  p.  20,  read  Mephistopheles. 

For  Thackaray,  p.  22,  read  Thackeray. 

For  Fig.  25,  p.  22,  read  25a. 

For  figures  on  twelftli  Une,  p.  24,  read  fingers. 

For  Palencqne,  p.  37,  read  Palenque. 

For  to  on  fifth  line,  p.  37,  read  and. 

For  impossihle,  ninth  line,  p.  37,  read  jtossible. 


The  illustrations  of  this  Memoir  have  been  executed  by  the  photo-electrotype  process,  by  Messrs.  F,  A.  Won- 
deroth  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  from  drawings  by  Mr.  Hermann  Faber. 


..\Mmi^:ir.iMr 


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